Spiz
@telus.net
| Network Sharing between 2 DSL Connections
Hi all,
My networking skills are limited and I was wondering if anyone can assist with the following scenario:
I have 2 separate phone lines, each with DSL service and their own 2wire routers.
Some of us use the one connection, some the other. Some connect wirelessly, some not.
Printer/file sharing between each group of computers on each network works fine, but I am curious if it's possible to share the files/printer between all of use despite the 2 networks.
If possible, can this be done without going out to the Internet by creatng some sort of internal 'bridge'?
I can (and would like) to have one document server for sharing files/storing scans from the printer that would be available to all on both networks even though the server and printer will sit together on one of them.
The reason for the two connections is to increase the overall bandwidth available.
Thanks for the help. |
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siberx4
Bandwidth hog
join:2004-10-19
West Vancouver, BC
 ·TELUS
| Well, there's a couple options here. The first one is to amalgamate the two networks into a single one, and feed both 2wire units into a load balancing router (there are some specialized residential routers that do this, or you can build a computer-based router on something like pfsense or dd-wrt to do it). Then, you can make use of both connections simultaneously from the same network - but setting it up can be somewhat tricky. Another other option is to have a computer with two network cards and the right os/software installed on it to act as a network bridge between the two networks - it passes packets between each subnet (for example, one is 192.168.1.x and the other is 192.168.0.x). Once this computer is set up, then you need to add a static route to each 2wire that directs traffic for the opposing network to the IP of the bridge computer. I'm assuming here that the 2wire can do static routes however, which is not guaranteed.
Other than that, the only other tricks I can think of are things like hosting a single network with both 2wires on it and restrict DHCP leasing by MAC address so that the correct computers are using the correct 2wire as a gateway, and then just setting a wider netmask would allow access, but that is again dependent on advanced routing capabilities in the 2wire, which I'm unsure of it having.
Anybody else got any other ideas? |
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wyle
join:2007-12-12
Canada | A cisco router with two ADSL WICS. |
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Spiz
@telus.net
| reply to Spiz
Thanks guys for the ideas - any more are welcome too.
I thought about cancellig one service and upgrading the other but I see it's $100 extra to go from 3.0 to 4.0 Mbps as opposed to the existing 2(3.0) = 6.0 for less $ we have right now.
Time is an issue at the moment but I will be looking into these suggestions...
Jay |
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netwerk
Premium
join:2003-02-03
BC
·TELUS
·TekSavvy Solutions..
edit:
May 15th, @02:07AM
| How many computers do you have?
If its a very small number and you can just setup static internal IP and this could be very easy
Turn DHCP off in both 2wires and turn the wireless off on one of the units
Give each 2wire one of these IP's
1 -- 192.168.0.253 2wire IP
2 -- 192.168.1.254 2wire IP
Connect a patch cable between each 2wire in the LAN ports. If you don't get a link or get a link light that flashes constantly use a cross-over cable. I'm pretty sure these units are auto mdi/mdi-x
Then on each computer give them an Ip like this 192.168.1.10....11.....12 etc
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0
The important part give each computer a different gateway address
give one the 2wire #1 192.168.1.253
Give the next one #2 192.168.1.254
With DNS use each gateways IP
This will allow each computer on the network to access all resources on its subnet but gives each computer a different route off to the default route |
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siberx4
Bandwidth hog
join:2004-10-19
West Vancouver, BC
·TELUS
| Good call netwerk - if they have a limited number of computers and don't mind setting static IPs for all of them, this solution will be much simpler and will require no external hardware.
I believe you have a typo however in your instructions - both 2wires should be on the same subnet, so where you say:
said by netwerk  :Give each 2wire one of these IP's 1 -- 192.168.0.253 2wire IP 2 -- 192.168.1.254 2wire IP It should read:
1 -- 192.168.1.253 2wire IP
2 -- 192.168.1.254 2wire IP
This will keep all computers on the network accessible to each other. There's another convenient extension you can do to this system now that I think about it - you in fact only have to disable the DHCP server on *one* of the 2wires, and leave the other one enabled - make sure it's assigning IPs that don't conflict with your statically mapped ones though. The advantage of doing this is that you will likely statically map the computers that are permanently connected to the network (and spread them between the two connections), but if you just hook up a device like a friend's notebook over wifi, by leaving one of the DHCP servers enabled it'll still automatically get assigned an IP and be able to access the internet (although all dynamically assigned IP computers will be stuck using a single router for internet access, so you only want to use it for the odd temporary computer). |
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playboy2000
join:2005-05-30
Calgary, AB
·TELUS
edit:
May 16th, @02:46PM
| Erm, no.
netwerks soulution would work other than the fact that you need a router to go between subnets and consumer grade gear will only go LAN to WAN. siberx4's soultion will not work becuase one of the DSL connections remains idel as the one with DHCP assigns itself as the defualt gateway.
Set 2wire #1 as 192.168.1.1
Set 2wire #2 as 192.168.1.2
Set computer static IP addresses in the
192.168.1.3 to 192.168.1.254 range and specifiy either the first or second 2 wire as the default gateway, depending on how you want to split the load.
Seriouly though: get an old laptop + 2 ethernet to PCMCIA adapters and download m0nowall or a modified distrobution thereof.
edit: I see what siberx4 is saying about the DHCP and wireless + seperate static, but honestly, it's more trouble than it's worth. |
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siberx4
Bandwidth hog
join:2004-10-19
West Vancouver, BC
·TELUS
| With the correction I made to netwerk's (I assume) typo, that solution works perfectly fine. He's just using high IPs for the routers instead of low ones like you suggest - so long as he's using a standard 255.255.255.0 subnet mask it shouldn't make a difference either way.
My suggestion was simply an extension on top of this solution that retains some autoconnect ability for temporary systems. Most systems would be statically mapped and have the default gateway set on a per-system basis as necessary. |
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