2. Setup and Administration

Setup and configuration was fairly straight forward: plug the unit in, power it up, plug in a laptop or computer set to use DHCP and the SMC automatically assigns an IP address. From there users may choose three options: the EZ 3-Click Installation Wizard, an onboard setup wizard, or manual setup.

If you select the EZ 3-Click Installation Wizard, a Windows-based set of three screens walks the user through basic setup and gets the router onto the Internet.

Figure 1: Windows-based Setup Wizard provides WAN connection options

For those that prefer a web-based setup (or happen to be non-Windows users), web-based installation is nearly as easy. Connect to the unit at its default IP address of 192.168.2.1 and provide the default password. (In the interest of security, I wish that vendors would allow users to change the admin account's name, but consumer products seem to favor a password only approach.)

Once you've logged in, you will see a status screen, similar to the one shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: The Status Screen

From there you may choose to run the "Setup Wizard" or manually configure the settings to your liking. In my case, one of the first things I had to do was upgrade the firmware, since initially there was a glitch in connecting wireless clients.

Figure 3: The Firmware Upgrade screen before upgrading the firmware

TIP: Note that after I updated the firmware, I found that the new revision added an option for upgrading the Boot Loader in addition to the firmware.