Assign application to use certain ip

[dkdajoker]

HI,

I have a windows 7 pc and i would like to run SKYPE on network A as it uses alot of data.
I would like all other programs to run on network B


i notice in skype options it uses port 12406. is it possible to set a rule that all traffic on this port be assigned to the IP of network A?

ive read through some forums and i found this link regarding load balancing:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/route.mspx?mfr=true

am i heading in the right direction? do i need to create a route? and if so can i assign ports?

thank you all in advance for your input!

 

[eibgrad]

The ports used by the application are irrelevant as far as congestion is concerned. The ports are simply logical points of entry/exit wrt a specific application on a given network. The only way to relieve congestion is to use multiple network adapters, each configured w/ different networks (e.g., 192.168.1.x and 10.0.0.x).

But that’s raises other issues. No matter how many network adapters you install and configure, Windows will always use the same one to access your default gateway. And the default gateway determines how all your internet applications (including Skype) are routed to your ISP.

IOW, ports don’t matter, and adding another network is ultimately ineffectual. All your internet applications will still use the same network, the same internet gateway, all the time! So whatever problems you have, they will persist.

To relieve your PC, you need to get Skype off that PC, perhaps on another PC or dedicated device. But that doesn’t do anything wrt to its impact on your internet connection. To that end, you’d need to place that other PC on its own network AND separate ISP connection. IOW, completely isolated from you, in every way (device, network, and ISP).

 

[dkdajoker]

The ports used by the application are irrelevant as far as congestion is concerned. The ports are simply logical points of entry/exit wrt a specific application on a given network. The only way to relieve congestion is to use multiple network adapters, each configured w/ different networks (e.g., 192.168.1.x and 10.0.0.x).

But that’s raises other issues. No matter how many network adapters you install and configure, Windows will always use the same one to access your default gateway. And the default gateway determines how all your internet applications (including Skype) are routed to your ISP.

IOW, ports don’t matter, and adding another network is ultimately ineffectual. All your internet applications will still use the same network, the same internet gateway, all the time! So whatever problems you have, they will persist.

To relieve your PC, you need to get Skype off that PC, perhaps on another PC or dedicated device. But that doesn’t do anything wrt to its impact on your internet connection. To that end, you’d need to place that other PC on its own network AND separate ISP connection. IOW, completely isolated from you, in every way (device, network, and ISP).

thank you for your quick response!

as i have a separate network adapter for each of the 2 separate networks (note i have 2 separate ISPs as well):

would if be possible to configure windows so that skype only runs on "network A"? or is the only alternative to perform load balancing and change the metric value in the routing table so that windows delegates the use of "network A" over "network b"

 

[eibgrad]

Close, but not quite.

Remember what I said, no matter how many networks you have, even if each has its own gateway/ISP, Windows will only use ONE of them as the default gateway and ignore all others (otherwise, it wouldn't be a default, right?).

That's why this is so tricky to implement. The ONLY way to do it using multiple networks, multiple ISPs, *and* multiple OSes. Now you can have two different instances of Windows, each configured to use different networks, each using different gateways, and each using different ISPs. Or else some other device, like a standalone Skype VOIP adapter, if there is such a thing.

Now one “trick” to getting this to work on a single machine would be to install a VM (virtual machine), perhaps using Oracle VirtualBox. Now you can dedicate one of those networks to the host OS, and pass the other network to the guest OS (presumably running Skype). Tada! One machine, but TWO different Windows environments (or Linux, Mac, whatever works for you). All the requirements have been met.

 

[dkdajoker]

Best answer selected by dkdajoker.