Connecting 2 wired networks, each with ISP.....

[lupaug]

I have 2 networks, as follows....
NET A- ISP, Dlink EBR-2310 router, 2 PCs, one named (Server) the other (WKS1)

NET-B- ISP, Dlink EBR-2310 router, 1 PC, named (WKS2)


I am a network amateur, I know enough basics to be dangerous. I want all 3 PCs to be able to see each other, but I want each network to use only it's own router/ ISP for internet access. Can this be done? How and what settings for the routers?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[riser]

Two different locations for each network?

First, hook the routers up to the ISP. Whatever is connected to the router will use that router for the Internet. Based on what you have listed above, NET A ISP will have 2 PCs access the internet through that router. NET B ISP will have 1 PC accessing the internet through it.

Now you want each network to see each other. That's not as easy as it sounds.

Do you want all PCs to see each other, or do you want all PCs to be able to see just the server?

If its just the server, you'll want to forward all ports on your router on NET A to point to the server. When the PC on NET B tries to access the Public IP address of NET A, everything will be forwarded to the Server PC on NET A.

You can use the name by adding the public IP address of the NET A into your hosts file as well (C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts)

65.75.100.50 Server

Look at the example in the hosts file - open it with notepad. Just enter the Public IP address of NET A in there and then add the name of the computer. When you try to access the computer by name, it'll resolve to the IP address you have entered into the host table.

But remember to forward all traffic on NET A to point to the server. If you want the computers on NET A to access NET B's PC, forward all port traffic on NET B router to point to NET B's PC's IP address.

 

[jbrigan]

I have 2 networks, as follows....
NET A- ISP, Dlink EBR-2310 router, 2 PCs, one named (Server) the other (WKS1)

NET-B- ISP, Dlink EBR-2310 router, 1 PC, named (WKS2)


I am a network amateur, I know enough basics to be dangerous. I want all 3 PCs to be able to see each other, but I want each network to use only it's own router/ ISP for internet access. Can this be done? How and what settings for the routers?

Thanks in advance for your help.

To do this, and have a secure network, you really should have a "secure" connection between the 2 networks. That is if you're thinking about sharing files. You need a VPN connection to do that. I don't believe your routers do VPN.
Otherwise, without a VPN connection to share files, you are opening yourself up to hackers. All they have to do is test which ports are open. Not difficult. There are some good, reasonably priced, routers that do site-to-site VPN. I.e. Netgear FVS 318.

 

[lupaug]

Riser,

Thanks for the quick response.

The 2 networks are in the same building, I just have to wire them up. I do want to share files between all PCs, do I need a VPN as jbrigan has suggested? Or do the firewalls provided by the 2 routers ( and checked as "STEALTH" by GRC.com) keep me reasonably safe?

Thanks

 

[lupaug]

Riser, any thoughts on this?

 

[riser]

You could avoid VPN if you can run a cable between them. The Router will hand out DHCP info - IP address, DNS, Gateway.

Could you switch down to a single ISP to make things a little easier? Not sure how the load on your ISP would be though.

A router connects 2 different networks. In order to create a secure network you'd need VPN or even PPTP.. but I'm guessing your routers are not installed with a PPTP (protocol) to connect to each other.

 

[lupaug]

Riser,
The two routers will be cabled. You are right that the load through one IP would be too great. So, just to be clear, I will not need VPN? And should both routers' DHCP be on or just one?

Thanks

 

[riser]

It causes problems having 2 DHCP servers running if they're both handing out info to the same computers.

Basically, you'll want to configure one set of computers with static information to point to one router. The other router can have DHCP if needed.

You can have 2 routers.
Router 1: 192.168.1.1
Router 2: 192.168.1.2

By setting the Gateway on each PC, they'll direct their public network connection to that Router. If its internal (between your computers) it won't use the Gateway to find a local 192.168.1.x computer. If you send out a request to a website like Tom's Hardware with an IP address of [208.48.161.102] each computer will send that request to the Gateway configured on the computer. That will then send the request out through that ISP.

As stated earlier, if you're able to run a network cable from Router to Router, you will not need to use VPN or anything of that sort. In fact, if needed you could run a cable from Router 1 to a switch and another cable from that switch to Router 2. The purpose of the switch acts as a Repeater and strengthens the signal. Theoretically you can run up to roughly 300 feet before the signal drops off (down to 10mb). Once you connect into that switch, the signal will be repeated and strengthened. You'll be able to run up to another potential 300 feet to connect your networks. I wouldn't recommend maxing out cable length to do it either, I'd stay under 200 feet for good measure. In the worst case you may want to look at putting in a fiber cable since the price has significantly come down in price.