Modem/router seems to block access to NAS box with static IP?

Question

I have an NSLU2 ("slug") network-attached storage box, running nslu2-linux, which was working well until I replaced some hardware in my home network. My current setup is very simple: I have a single box (Motorola SBG6580) which is a combination cable modem and wifi router. A couple of desktop machines, the NAS, and a Vonage box all hang off of this box. The slug is hardcoded to use IP address 192.168.1.77. The router assigns DHCP addresses in the 192.168.0.x range. I'm pretty ignorant about networking, but this actually seems like it should be OK: the hardcoded IP of the slug doesn't fall in the range that the router wants to be able to use for DHCP, so there would be no conflicts. However, I can no longer connect to the slug:

---- rintintin ~ $ ping 192.168.1.77
PING 192.168.1.77 (192.168.1.77) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 72.129.61.64 icmp_seq=1 Time to live exceeded
From 72.129.61.64 icmp_seq=2 Time to live exceeded
From 72.129.61.64 icmp_seq=3 Time to live exceeded
From 72.129.61.64 icmp_seq=4 Time to live exceeded
^C

Or:

---- rintintin ~ $ ssh [email protected]
ssh: connect to host 192.168.1.77 port 22: No route to host

Access to other stuff on the network is fine:

---- rintintin ~ $ ping 192.168.0.3
PING 192.168.0.3 (192.168.0.3) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=0.144 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=0.095 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: icmp_req=3 ttl=64 time=0.096 ms
^C

I've clicked around in the router's big, complicated web interface, but haven't found any indications of what might be wrong. Maybe it's set by default to deny access to IP's that aren't of the form 192.168.0.x? Maybe it's set by default to deny access to IP's that aren't ones that it assigned via DHCP? How would one go about diagnosing and fixing this problem?

Answer 1

There is a simpler, better solution to the problem correctly diagnosed by davidgo: change your network to 192.168.1.0/24, and leave the mask unaltered. Allo modern routers are configured to do that. In the following image,

you can see the line called Local IP address, where I can specify my network. I have chosen 192.168.11.1 for the router LAN address, and a mask 255.255.255.0, while you ought to choose the same mask, but the router address 192.168.1.0. This way you will have a smaller mask (there is no need in a SOHO for 65,536-strong subnets), and you will be able to talk to your NAS. You may have to re-boot your machines.

Answer 2

Check the netmask of your systems. I suspect it is 255.255.255.0, meaning 192.168.0.X, when you really need a wider netmask, say 255.255.0.0, which means 192.168.X.X - It sounds to me like the NAS needs to be in the same network to work, as you don't appear to have a gateway configured to handle this.

Alternatively, reduce the number of IP addresses handed out by the DHCP server and renumber the NAS so that it is in 192.168.0.X but outside the range of IP's handled by the DHCP server.