Network configuration question

[Silent_Buddha]

Here's what I'm wanting to do. I have a LAN behind a router with internet going through DSL.

Is there a way to have one computer on the LAN remain in that LAN (wired ethernet), yet browse the internet through a different internet portal using either a secondary ethernet port or wireless?

If so, how would I set that up?

Regards,
SB

 

[Sonic]

I'm not entirely sure I understand you. Do you want one computer connected to the ethernet port in the back of the router and have a separate computer to be able to browse the web wirelessly or through another cable connected to it?

When you say you have a LAN behind a router do you mean you have another piece of hardware connected to your router or do you mean the LAN is being run within your router?

Regardless, if your router has wireless and ethernet ports in the back of it then yes you can have one computer plugged into it and another plugged into it and another and browse just fine. You can also use wireless connection if you wish to go that route.

All you have to do is plug an ethernet cable int o the back of the router going to your main PC and that will get internet just fine. You can plug another computer into the router using a separate ethernet port and that machine will get internet just fine. If your other internet portal you wish to utilize wirelessly then you will need the name of the network and the password if the wireless is encrypted.

 

[chavvdarrr]

you can, probably will have to set default gateway/route to internet

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I'm not entirely sure I understand you. Do you want one computer connected to the ethernet port in the back of the router and have a separate computer to be able to browse the web wirelessly or through another cable connected to it?

Let me see if I can make this explanation easier. T

                      ---->Computer
                     /     
Internet[1]<-->Router---->Computer
                     \
                      ---->Computer<--->Internet[2]

So Internet[1] is my DSL connection. Internet[2] is a connection I'll be getting soon. I want the bottom computer to access the internet through Internet[2] but still be part of my home LAN (and thus access to all resources on the LAN) which is all connected through the Router.

The bottom Computer would be the only one accessing the internet through the second connection all other computers would still be accessing the DSL through the router.

Is it possible to setup my network like that? I realize that I'll need either a second wired ethernet connection or wireless connection for Internet[2].

Regards,
SB

 

[chavvdarrr]

Let me see if I can make this explanation easier. T

                      ---->Computer1
                     /     
Internet[1]<-->Router---->Computer2
                     \
                      ---->Computer3<--->Internet[2]

So Internet[1] is my DSL connection. Internet[2] is a connection I'll be getting soon. I want the bottom computer to access the internet through Internet[2] but still be part of my home LAN (and thus access to all resources on the LAN) which is all connected through the Router.

The bottom Computer would be the only one accessing the internet through the second connection all other computers would still be accessing the DSL through the router.

Is it possible to setup my network like that? I realize that I'll need either a second wired ethernet connection or wireless connection for Internet[2].

Regards,
SB

I'll suppose on PC3 you have LAN1 with ip address 1:
10.1.1.100 with gateway to Internet 1 - 10.1.1.1
and LAN2 with ip address 2:
10.1.200.100 with gateway to Internet 1 - 10.1.200.1

You have 2 options:
Remove default gateway for ip1 from tcp/ip properties
Or play a bit with "Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections " and from there Advanced - Advanced Settings (thats the place for Windows 7)
There you can reorder how network services access LAN connections, ie you will want to set LAN2 above LAN1

Both methods should work just fine.
problem with method 1 - if you lose network connectivity via LAN2, you'll have to manually reenter default gateway for LAN1

 

[Lightman]

In theory you can set it up so both internet connections can be used at the same time . If your ISP is providing both connections and the exchange is not configured in a way which blocks ganging them (most weren't at least in 2000-2005) you should be able to do that. I've done it back in Poland on pair of 1024/256 DSL connections to get 512kbps upload and 2Mbps download for Internet caffe. There was a small issue - occasionally this setup was hanging router at the ISP exchange and it needed manual restart from them .

Anyway in Windows you can follow chavvdarrr's example and on top of it set mask to for example 255.255.0.0, then in Advanced properties of TCP/IP you can add more than one Gateway (first router, second router) and more than one DNS server. This in theory should just use whichever connection has a higher priority and in case one is down it should go for the secondary.
I must admit I've never tried this on Windows, but on Linux it would work for sure.

Good luck!

PS. that solutions would require just one network adapter, but make sure only one router broadcast DHCP.

PS2. If you specifically want Computer 3 to only access internet from Router 2 and have only access to local network on the other end, then with 2 network adapters just set one connected to router to DHCP and the other connected to local network set manually to required IP address and network mask but leave Gateway and DNS fields blank. Job done!

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Thanks for the information guys, I'll give that a try once I get the new connection provisioned. Ganging sounds interesting, but the main purpose for this is so that everyone in the household would use the DSL while the Internet[2] would be purely for my use.

Regards,
SB

 

[BRiT]

You could also look into getting Dual-WAN router or DD-WRT firmware with Dual-WAN functionality. Or you can setup a nice little pfSense router. With that you can prioritize or direct traffic so your computer could use both internet connections while everyone else only used one.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

DD-WRT would necessitate buying a new router so that's out for the forseeable future. My current router is solid and can handle large volumes of traffic without necessitating a power cycle every now and then so I'm not in a hurry to replace it.

pfSense looks interesting, but don't feel like building a router that would operate within the same power envelope of my current off the shelf router. Sticking that in my bookmarks though if I ever run out of projects and feel like building my own router. Looks pretty interesting.

Regards,
SB

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Ooof, ok, none of the above worked (well didn't try DD-WRT or building my own router ).

But managed to figure it out.

In my case, I had to manually set the "metric" of the Internet[2] adapter to be lower than that of the adapter connected to the LAN network. That way it becomes the prefered network for all IP traffic.

Also found out that on Win2k and higher you can set Windows to use all internet connections when using the internet. It isn't quite the same as ganging but works out fairly well if you do initiate multiple connections (download accelerators for example). You can set Windows to random choose which connection/gateway to use whenever it establishes a network connection.

Regards,
SB

 

[Davros]

why do you need 2 Internet connections
are you a huge downloader

 

[Silent_Buddha]

It's so everyone else in the household can use one internet connection while I get the other all to myself.

And I do occasionally download a lot. Between Steam and Anime that has yet to be released here in the states as well as old and semi old classic films that are no longer available for purchase. Oh and streaming TV shows.

Nothing I hate worse than streaming some show, and then having to wait while it buffers because someone is downloading a game off Steam or whatever.

Regards,
SB