i probably should have mentioned that this is for my house. It's wired with cat-5e. One wireless router is for the laptops in the house. I bought the other wireless router to extend the range of the network to a building that is about 30 feet from the house. I want to get the routers to work together as one router. Is this possible?

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I don't know that you'll be able to do what you want. It will depend on the capabilities of the equipment. The only possibility I can see (other than running a cable out to the other building) is if the router you put there is able to have it's WAN port set to a static IP that's in the same subnet as the rest of the network and it's able to broadcast/receive wirelessly via that external interface. If it can, then you setup your scope on the first router for say (example) 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.0.200. Use 192.168.0.250 for that router's IP and 192.168.0.251 for the one out in the other building. You could then create a DHCP scope on the second router of 192.168.0.50 to 192.168.0.99. You would also want to shut off all firewall features on this router since it's behind the first one which would have the router working. Again, this depends on the capabilities of the equipment. You may want to contact LinkSys tech support (I'd recommend calling them on the phone) and ask them if this is possible. If it's not, I highly recommend you dig a trench between buildings, get outdoor grade Cat5e or Cat6 and run it between the buildings and physically connect the second wireless router to the cable.

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Gosh, all the one's I have seen are either disabled by default or not fully implemented. A poor firewall is no security. Worse yet it is false hope to someone who might be fooled into thinking they are protected. To top it off most people start by saying "disable the firewall". Might as well protect it with bubble gum. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, are in my top 10

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You must not have seen very many SOHO routers then because every SOHO router I've seen had the firewall enabled by default. Every one I've tested at the Shields Up (Courtesy Gibson Research) website was actively protecting the LAN (which is to say, the port scans all received "no reply" or showed "stealth" on all ports scanned. Just so you know, I've worked on, deployed, and tested quite a number of SOHO routers (various brands and models) over the years. But even "poor security" is better than none and your original suggestion in this string was "none". And I quote, "Throw the wireless away and hook up the cisco to the dsl modem." With no firewall between the DLS modem and the Cisco switch, you end up with no firewall and no protection since Cisco switches are not capable of performing firewall duties in any real sense. I'll grant you that wireless is inherently insecure and that is my major beef with it. I'm not a fan of wireless and recommend against using it if you have sensitive data you don't want anybody to access. However, in this case, I doubt that's a serious consideration and if the OP deploys WPA encryption, he should be alright and his network reasonably secure from intrusion via the wireless signal. A SOHO router with a builtin firewall connected to the DSL modem will prevent intrusion from the hardwired end of the network.

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Then we can agree that the best is an opinion. I don't know what level the switch is but it too may have all the features a soho router has and in some cases more. But I am thinking an enterprise level switch. Might just be a dumb switch. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, are in my top 10

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Then we can agree that the best is an opinion. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that. But then, I'm not sure what you mean most of the time you post anything. I recommended the OP put a firewall between the internet connection and the switch for security reasons (ie: prevent intrusion). Intrusion is not opinion, it's a fact of life on the internet. Lack of intrusion prevention means you will eventually be compromised. Again, not opinion, fact. You told the OP to not use any form or intrusion prevention....fact. I recommended they do....again fact. I don't know what level the switch is but it too may have all the features a soho router has and in some cases more. But I am thinking an enterprise level switch. Might just be a dumb switch. I do realize you could do some things on an enterprise level cisco switch that are kind of similar to what a firewall does. However, you cannot in good conscience say, "I don't know what level the switch is but it too may have all the features a soho router has and in some cases more. I'm afraid that's just not true. I've never heard of anybody actually trying to use a cisco switch as a firewall. Not even Cisco themselves. There's a reason Cisco builds firewall devices.........namely because they know their switches aren't capable of doing the job.....period. Not to mention, never once did you ever say anything at all about configuring the switch as a firewall (which you can't anyhow and I'm sure you know that which is why you didn't say anything about trying to turn a switch into a firewall). Again, here's your initial reply to the OP: Throw the wireless away and hook up the cisco to the dsl modem. I don't see any recommendations to try to make the switch a firewall in that post..... Without wanting to be rude might I suggest you stop right here and now. You've already proven to me, and anybody else in the know, that you don't know as much as you think you do. For you to say anymore would just be you digging a deeper hole and making yourself look that much more foolish.

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