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I have a TP-link tl-wr841nd home router, and I wish to make a small network for sharing and downloading files via a web browser interface. My basic setup is as shown below:

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Currently, I have a customized web/file server connected to the router's WAN interface via a switch. Then I plan to have clients connect to the router's wifi connection and browse through the files available on the web server via the router. My question is, how do I redirect traffic from the clients to the web server via the router? Also, is the above plan workable? What other strategies are available to achieve the above? Keep in mind I really want to have the servers on a different network than the clients' network.

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  • Hmm. Where is your internet connection?
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 19:07
  • There's no Internet connection. It's a closed network. Fully local
    – Peter
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 19:10
  • You could run a name service on your server and let the clients connect "the internet way"--by browsing to its web site.
    – gbarry
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 19:16
  • @gbarry could u explain more
    – Peter
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 19:18

1 Answer 1

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If your client's default gateway is the wifi router, and the server's default gateway is the router's WAN address, your clients can reach the servers via IP address. If you want to browse by name, you need a name server (also called a DNS server).

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  • Let me see if I have understood this. I give both the router n server static IP addresses in the same network, point the server's gateway to the router's WAN address, then I can access the server via IP addressing? Also, can the DNS server run simultaneously on the web server?
    – Peter
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 5:50
  • Right. Naturally, the router's WAN address and LAN address are on different subnets. You can usually run a nameserver and a web server at the same time, depending on the server capacity.
    – Ron Trunk
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 11:12
  • That means I will point the DNS server address on the router to my server, right?
    – Peter
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 14:34
  • Wait, what about the router's default gateway? It seems the router must have one
    – Peter
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 15:41
  • Sorry, doesn't seem to be working. The router is asking for a default gateway when setting a static IP, which I don't know how to set up yet but it has to be there, and the wan interface cannot communicate with the LAN interface, tried pinging the LAN interface but nothing happens, so it seems they r not communicating.
    – Peter
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 17:11

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