Dual Router Configuration - How

varkey

varkey

Skilled
I have two routers. One I have connected to my Cable Internet connection and I use the net on my desktop. The other router is connected to my TataPhoton USB modem and its connected to my Laptop.

Now how do I interconnect these two routers so that I can share files between the laptop and desktop. I also should also be able to access the files from any machine if I have another laptop connected wirelessly to either of the two routers.

I tried connecting the two routers via a cross over cable but it didn't work. Maybe some configuration issue with the IP setttings.

So both these routers have separate internet access and I want the direct clients to access only the respective connections, ie I don't want the Internet Connections to be shared to the other routers clients.

My Cable Internet Router's IP is 192.168.1.1

And Photon+ Router's IP is 192.168.0.1

Please give your suggestions.
 
Well I'm not sure about your situation but my Belkin router has a option of Wireless Bridging which is used to connect Wireless Routers and Access Points together to extend a network. See if this option is present in to your router.
 
I don't want to create a wireless bridge. Just want to bridge the two routers so that I will be able to access both the networks.
 
Leave one router at 192.168.1.1 and change the other to 192.168.1.2 Give each PC connected to each router a static IP so that it doesn't accidentally get an IP from the other router. This way, both router's have the same local network which will allow both computers to share files, but their different IPs won't cause any IP address conflicts when both routers are wired together. Assigning static IPs to the computers with their respective routers' as the default gateway for the computers ensure that they use only the router that they are meant to use for internet access. Lemme know if you need any help on this.
 
^^ Thank you very much. That worked!!!

But is it possible to do the same thing without assigning static IPs, through DHCP?
 
No problem dude! Glad I could help. The problem with using dynamic IPs in this case is that if the PC gets an IP from the other router, then it'll go online through the wrong router. With static IPs, you can at least point the computer to whichever router you want, for the internet connection.
 
Oh ok. So is there any way force the usage of the respective router's DHCP server for acquiring the IP?

Right now I have enabled the DHCP server on both routers and as you said sometimes I get the IP from one router and sometimes from the other.
 
Edrill said:
Nah. No way to force the PC to use a particular DHCP server. Only option in this case is to use static IPs.
Click to expand...

I would beg to differ.

Infact there is a way, Its called "DHCP Address Reservation". this technique fixes IP address of each host in a network based on its MAC. so that IP address of each does not change every now & then as every host has unique MAC id. Find this option in your router's configuration page.

also, running two dhcp servers on a single network is not advisable. either disable one of them or limit their range.

Hope it helps
 
DHCP Reservation allows the router's DHCP server to assign the same IP address to the same PC based on it's MAC address. What varkey wants to do is to control which DHCP server each client sends the DHCP broadcast too. That can't be controlled since it is a broadcast and you can't effectively predict which DHCP server will respond to which PC.
 
Can't different ranges be assigned in the two different routers. For example:
Router 1..DHCP range 192.xxx.03-192.xxx.100
And for router 2: 192.xxx.101-192.xxx.200 ?
 
Changing the DHCP range on each router will ensure that there's no IP address conflicts. But with your average SOHO router, there's no way to control which DHCP server responds to which client. When the client sends out a request for an IP address, it sends a broadcast across the entire network. In this case, there are two DHCP servers on the network, so both respond. It's anyone's guess as to which DHCP server the client will pick up the IP address from. That's why I suggested static IPs on each PC.
 
Is it possible to to configure the router's IP as 192.168.1.x and 192.168.2.x. How will I be able to access both the networks in this case? Is it something to do with subnet masks?
 
^ yes ... with router IP as 192.168.1.x and 192.16.2.x both with netmask 255.255.255.0 will create two different network ... so basically you need one more router to connect them

As Edrill has said ... our cheap SOHO routers doesn't give much facility to setup custom routes :(
 
I have a similar situation....I've been looking for an answer for days now!

I have my network on a Sonicwall TZ-170. I need additional site-to-site vpns so I bought a Sonicwall TZ-210 which has 15 vpns (site-to-site). I cannot get all existing vpns to work on my TZ-210.

Can I leave my existing network on the TZ-170 and add the TZ-210 into my network so that future clients using a VPN on the TZ-210 can access my network on TZ-170??

Can I interconnect the 2 Sonicwalls somehow?

Thanks in advance for help!!!

Jason
 
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