WNA-100 makes no sense to me

[CRAPSOFTWARESITE]

AGREE completely, worse hardware/software is very difficult to find,.

Even I will have to pay for a third party bridge (100% Xerox producs are not compatible with each other)

Firmvare is from 2010, product is from may 2014. 

Stay AWAY from WNL-100

Phaser 7100, ok to use, hardwired with CABLE to a network. (or use third party product for wifi)

[Mitchell889923-xrx]

Hi again Buckie,

I agree with some of your comments and I wanted to check with an expert support representative to ensure we left no options un-explored. So, I contacted 2nd level Customer support and while they agree that the model has been on the market for a for a couple of years they expect to have a newer one soon.

They also informed me that DHCP is supported on the WNA-100 and suggested that you should contact technical support @ 1-800-821-2797 to get assistance ( According to Mr. Dawson )

I sincerely hope you can find the appropriate solution.

Please check back and update this topic to let us know how things worked out.

[Mitchell889923-xrx]

Hi
Thank you for using the Xerox forum.

After speaking to an expert we reviewed some other things.

I would suggest that you review the following solution.
http://www.support.xerox.com/support/WNA100/support/en_US.html?objGUID=1461

Pay particular attention to the Notes at the top.

[Buckie]

Kimzi,

the thing here is that it doesn't become a private LAN. I see how that could potentially be done: WNA gets an IP address from our wireless router, checks that a printer is connected via the cable, assigns the printer its own IP address and then transparently relays all request to its (WNA's) address to the printer. In other words, when I communicate with WNA's IP address I actually communicate with the printer. And that would be called "a router with DMZ" where printer's IP is in WNA's DMZ.

But, it doesn't work that way. As I have stated over and over again, WNA's address and printer's address are two separate things. Clients are able to connect directly to the printer's statically assigned IP address (said IP belongs to our internal network) even though the printer is 'behind' the WMA. WMA on the other hand has another local IP address that it responds to just as fine. So it doesn't act as a router then, it actually relays requests to printer's IP address quite transparently.

The only problem here is that specifically DHCP requests from the printer are being filtered out. The printer can see the internet, it can access resources or our local network via WNA, but it cannot relay DHCP request to the router (equally possible is that the router's reply can never come through WNA). Another problem here is that even WNA itself cannot assign an IP address for itself via DHCP. I seriously wonder then, what the "DHCP/BOOTP" setting does at all in WNA-100's config?

Finally, rant ahead...

Xerox, my advice is to get your act together. Either fix it in WNA's firmware update or retire the model. I never expected such a simple device to fail in such simple tasks. When I bought the printer I thought that Xerox knew better how to extend ColorQube's network functionality. In restrospect, I should've used another third-party simple cheap and extremely customizable access point device, there are tons out there on the market. Those devices have a meaningful setup and you know exactly what mode they're in at the moment, a bridge, a router or something else. With WNA-100 there's zero useful documentation, it doesn't support 802.11n, it cannot use DHCP and the way it works is a mystery that even Xerox themselves cannot explain. I cannot return WNA-100 unfortunately, it was a one-way sale, so I'm stuck with it anyhow. I can throw more money at the problem and buy a real bridge/router but I still hope there might be a solution out there that I don't yet understand.

[Kimzi]

Hi again, Buckie and Mitch!

When reading Mitch's post I understand it as following.

The printer is supposed to have a static IP-address as the WNA-100 is not capable of acting as a bridge, as it becomes a private little lan instead, which means the IP-address used by the WNA-100 to connect to the router, will also be the IP-address the printer will be connecting through.

Please correct me if I'm wrong ?

That is correct, 2nd line support usually don't help much if you aint got a contract, unfortunately..

Best Regards

Kimzi

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[Buckie]

Hello Mitch, and no, that doesn't answer my question at all.

You keep repeating the same thing, that printer is hardwired via a crossover cable et cetera. Yes, I know that! It is in fact connected via the supplied cable to WNA-100 which in turn has been configured to connect to a wireless network. Although the statemenet "the printer is then hardwired into the Ethernet port" does sound ambigous.

Regardless! There's a simple question: I want the printer to get DHCP address from the wireless router in our network. I DO NOT WANT to set static IP addresses on either the printer, the WNA-100 or both.

Can you help me understand how to achieve exactly that? Again, I did set everything up as per the manual that had been mentioned several times already. In fact I read it and the other manual over and over several times before posting here. My problem is that the printer gets assigned nothing via DHCP BUT it works normally if I assign it a static IP address without changing any settings on the WNA.

PS. I did try "Fast track to expert" before posting here and they couldn't help. The message I got from them was "Our 2nd level support analyst could also help with this is but am unable to get them involve if there is not a service contract on this equipment with Xerox."

[Mitchell889923-xrx]

Hello All,

I'd like to clarify a bit,

The printer/WNA-100 are forming a mini-LAN and enabling Wi-Fi for the printer.

I hope someone can shed some light on the mysterious device named WNA-100.

The WNA-100 is a Wi-Fi attachment for the printer.  After it’s configured, the WNA-100 is attached to the printer with a cable to enable Wi-Fi printing.

My desired setup is as follows:

Router with DHCP server <-> WNA-100 acting as a transparent bridge <-> ColorQube 8570 getting IP address from the router

The 8570 will connect to the network through the WNA-100.

Right now wireless works but with DHCP enabled neither WNA-100 nor the printer ever get assigned IP addresses from the main router.

When I set IP addresses manually for WNA-100 and the printer, the network operates normally. However DHCP is a total mystery. There's only one single option in WNA's settings and that is to enable DHCP on and off. And I cannot understand what exactly it's trying to accomplish.

Is it supposed to assign an address to WNA-100? Let's suppose so, and suppose WNA gets its address on the wireless network, but what about the printer then? It means WNA is acting as a router itself, or is it?

The WNA is enabling Wi-Fi for the printer.  The printer by itself can only connect via network cable.  Once the WNA-100 is configured to connect to the Wi-Fi, the printer is then hardwired into the Ethernet port. 

BUT for configuration you'll connect the WNA-100 directly to the Ethernet port on the printer via the crossover cable used to connect to a PC (Step 4 of the attached)

Or is it supposed to act as a bridge and transparently relay DHCP requests from the printer to the wireless network and ultimately act as a transparent bridge between the printer and the the wireless router? I'd rather have it this way, makes much more sense.

The printer should be hardwired to the WNA-100 via Ethernet cable after the WNA-100 is configured using the enclosed procedure.

But ultimately none of those two imaginary scenarios ever work! Neither WNA nor the printer get an address. That's why I need a clarification about this WNA device. Is it a bridge? Is it a router? How on Earth does it even operate? It costs a lot of money, more than a high-end router from Netgear for example, but its configuration and manual are so limited it's baffling.

The WNA is enabling Wi-Fi for the printer.  The printer by itself can only connect via network cable.  Once the WNA-100 is configured to connect to the Wi-Fi, the printer is then hardwired into the Ethernet port.

I hope this clarifies what is trying to be done.If you need additional assistance you may consider contacting our support center using the following link: Fast Track to the Expert

[Kimzi]

Hey you!

If you do have DHCP enabled on the router, you should also enable the BOOTP/DHCP option on the WNA and it needs the DHCP Server address, which should be the router address.

The reason it's suggested to turn off DHCP is because everything is set up as static, you do not need to follow the guide exactly, I did link to the document for you to see if you missed anything.

Best Regards

Kimzi

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[Buckie]

Hey you.

Maybe you could answer my questions instead of suggesting I read "THIS"? Your "THIS" suggests we disable DHCP for  reasons unknown and doesn't explain a single thing.

[Kimzi]

Hey you!

I suggest you do have a read through THIS.

Best Regards

Kimzi

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