Link multiple networks that each have a seperate internet connection

NZCrusader · #1 Dec 21, 2006, 11:22 PM

Hi my network configeration is as follows:

(Network 1):

Router (connects my pc to the internet), Switch (Router is pluged into one of the ports, the other ports are open for pc's to plug in and have access to the internet), One PC that is pluged into the second port of the Switch (the rest of the ports except the one that connects to the other network are open so that my friends can use the net by pluging into the switch when i have a LAN), cat 6 cable is in one of the ports of the switch and connects to (Network 2).

(Network 2):

Router (connecting the pc's on this network to my parents internet connection), two pc's connected to the router, and the cable from the switch on (Network 1).

No here is the part i need help with, i want to share files between all the pc's on both networks and access the printer that is shared from one of the pc's on (network 2).

Each of the two routers uses DHCP and the dhcp ranges on both networks are completly different for example my dhcp range is 10.1.1.2 to 10.1.1.254 with the router as 10.1.1.1 and the router on (network 2) has a different dhcp range that starts with 192.x.x.x (i cant remember the full range on network 2 otherwise i would list it here).

the pc's on each of the networks can access the internet connection for their network and my dads two pc's can access the shared printer but i can't see his pc's from my network and vise versa.

(Hardware Information):

My Router = D-Link DSL-504T
My Switch = D-Link DGS-1005D

My Dad's Router = DSE ( Smith Electronics) ADSL Router UTP 4x LAN

Both the internet connections are with XTRA (a division of Telecom New Zealand)

Any sugestions on how to setup the two networks so that they can do what i need them to do without resorting to a VPN connection over the internet would be appreciated.

If any more information is needed then please ask and i will do my best to provide it.

Northwind_Dagas · Dec 22, 2006, 06:10 AM

You'll need to consolidate the networks. Here's what I recommend: Turn OFF DHCP on one of the routers, lets say you're parent's router. Change the IP of that router to 10.1.1.254. Change your DHCP range to a smaller window to allow for some static IP addresses. On your parent's PC's, manually setup IP addresses, with addresses outside of your DHCP range. When specifying the gateway and DNS server, use 10.1.1.254 so that traffic will go out their Internet connection. You're PC's will continue to get DHCP, and will use your router as the gateway and DNS, thus your PC's will go out your network. However, all the PC's will be in the same subnet and should be able to communicate.

Other factors are Windows Firewall: you have to enable the execption for File and Printer Sharing, and you have to make sure you have shared drives/printers on the PC's you wish to access.

Also, normally you would need to use a cross-over cable between network switches, but your DSL-504T features auto-uplink so you should be fine with a regular cable.

There are other options involving bridging the two networks, but this seems like the easiest way to accomplish what you want.

If you want to bridge using Windows, you will need two nics in your PC: http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window....mspx?mfr=true

cajalat · Dec 22, 2006, 06:55 AM

I'm surprised that the PC's on both networks haven't gotten a DHCP from the other router at one point. Also there is a 50/50 chance that if someone new comes into the network and plugs into your switch then they could get a DHCP address from either your router or your parent's route. In this case if you don't care which internet connection the new PC uses then it doesn't matter.

There is an elegant and simple solution to this but it depends on whether or not your parent's DSE supports RIP v1 or RIP v2. What you'll need to do is connect your router DIRECTLY to their router. i.e. don't use the 504 switch to connect to their router. What this will do is ensure that a DHCP request that is requested by a PC on your network is serviced by your router and a PC on your parents network is serviced by their router.

The 2nd thing to do is enable RIP v2 (or v1) on both routers. This will teach each router about the other router's network. So all you need to know is the IP address of the other PC in order to share the network/printer.

The other side benefit is that if one of the ISP's is down then because you have RIP enabled then the router with the lost ISP connection will know to route traffic to the other router and use the other ISP as a default route. That's how routing works but this may or may not work in your environment (dependent on the capabilities of both routers).

Casey

NZCrusader · Dec 22, 2006, 11:14 PM

Thanks for the advice, i think the two routers are talking to each other correctly. I brought a switch for my dads router and i can now access all the pc's from any location and i can access the printer as well.

I have also managed to get duel dhcp working (i think), each router has a part of the ip range from 10.1.1.2 to 10.1.1.254 (my router range is 10.1.1.2 - 10.1.1.199 with the router being 10.1.1.1 and my dads router has 10.1.1.201 - 10.1.1.254 with his router being 10.1.1.200). They seam to be assigning the correct ip addresses to my dads pc's.

I did encounter a problem with the setup though. I cannot ping my pc when the firewall that is part of norton internet security 2004 pro is turned on.

I can ping 127.0.0.1 and both the ip address and computer name for each of the other pc's on the network which means that the routers / switches / dhcp / and dns are all working correctly and i can access the internet from my pc but it wont let me ping it unless the firewall is down.

I have also added the entire network to the firewalls trusted pc zone.

any ideas on how to get this working would be much appreciated.

also my next step in developing the network so i can try and remember & practice the networking stuff i learned at polytech a few years ago is to build a cheap very basic server and run server 2003 so i can control the users on the pc's and allow my dad to tell me what times he doesnt want my sister and her boyfriend from accessing the internet.

Any sugestions on what i might need to do to adjust the network to achieve these goals would be much appreciated.

Thanks.



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