Best Data Products DSL502E

Best Data DSL542 ADSL Ethernet Router User’s Guide

13 Configuring Bridging

The Best Data DSL542 can be configured to act as a bridging device between your LAN and your

ISP. Bridges are devices that enable two or more networks to communicate as if they are two

segments of the same physical LAN. This chapter describes how to configure the Be st Data

DSL542 to operate as a bridge.

Note

Before changing your bridge configuration, check with your ISP to

determine the type of connection they use to exchange data with

their customer’s DSL modems (such as Ethernet bridging or IP

routing).

Although the Best Data DSL542 is preconfigured to serve as a router for providing Internet

connectivity to you LAN, there are several instances in which you may also want to configure

bridging:

f Your ISP may use protocols that require bridging with your LAN. The device c an be

configured to appear as a bridge when communicating with your ISP, while cont inuing to

provide router functionality for your LAN.

f Your LAN may include computers that communicate using “layer-3” protocols other than

the Internet Protocol. These include IPX® and AppleTalk®.. In this case, the device can be

configured to act as a bridge for packets that use these protocols while continui ng to

serve as a router for IP data.

In both cases, you need to specify the device’s interfaces as bridge interfaces.

To enable bridging, you simply specify the device interfaces on which you want to bridge data,

and then enable bridging mode:

1. Log into Configuration Manager and click the Bridging tab.

The Bridge Configuration page displays, as shown in Figure 45.

Figure 44. Bridge Configuration page

The table may be empty if bridging has not yet been configured.

2. Select the interface names on which you want to perform bridging and click .

For example, select eth-0 (LAN) and eoa-0 (WAN) interfaces. If you use such protocols on a

USB-connected computer, you can also select usb-0.