Wireless clients on an access point cannot see each other

Question

I have my main router in the basement and a dlink dap-1360 access point on the second floor connected by ethernet. I've assigned a static ip to the access point. It shares the same SSID as my router, same encryption, same default gateway(192.168.2.1), same netmask (255.255.255.0). Any wired devices on my LAN can be seen regardless whether I'm on the AP or router.

The issue: any wireless clients (Airport Express base stations) that connect wirelessly to the AP cannot be seen if I am connected wirelessly to the router and vice versa. All my air port express stations are Static IP (one connects wirelessly to the router, the other to the Ap). By way of example, when I am in range of the router, I cannot ping the Airport Express wirelessly connected to the AP, and vice versa.

What am I doing wrong? How can I ensure wireless clients speaking with the AP are visible to devices connected to the router, and vice versa.

Answer 1

Sounds like you've got your AP set up to do NAT, meaning everything connected to the AP is essentially behind a firewall. Things on wired connections, or through router wireless can't see anything connected to AP, while AP connections can see everything, right?

I imagine both devices are set to use the 192.168.2.x range, and surprisingly, it works.

See if you can set your AP to bridged mode, meaning it'll NOT do NAT. You should be able to set AP to bridged with DHCP enabled, it'll grab an address from the router, just like any other device, then bridge THAT connection to other devices, meaning they'll contact the router to get assigned via DHCP.

As a check, connect to your AP, note your IP address, then query the router to see what it shows for DHCP assignments. I bet it didn't see the request since the AP answered it for NAT purposes.

Just a guess...