Networking help needed here.

Phil dublin

hi all, tryn to set up a full home network.

home network set up

ntl cisco router, 4 ports, 1 pc wired, and 3 wirless.

2nd router netgear, ive 2 work pcs on the netgear, its getting internet access from the lan port on the cisco straight into the internet port.

then the 2 work pc's and on the lan, these pcs can talk to each other fine, and both have full internet access

but i want ot be able to access the pcs on the cisco router aswell.

any ideas would be great.

axer

Why have you the second negear router?

Phil dublin

becasue the two pcs i use for work are 20 meters away from the main router.

so i ran a 20 meter cable to my workspace. i need both pcs online and linked so i hooked up the second router.

Triangle

Phil,
I'm not too sure of your I.T. knowledge, but how is addressing handled?
Is there one DHCP scope or are the addresses static?
Usually a router will hand out IP Addresses to computers connecting to it. It knows which addresses are gone and which it has left to hand out. With two routers on the same network, you'll be having two IP address 'controllers' which will cause issues, if you use dynamic addressing and not static.

Also, are both routers DSL routers (i.e. are both trying to find an internet connection)? If so, one will need to be configured to look at the other for the internet.

I have the setup you're looking to get and i've done it this way.

Router A 192.168.1.1 - this is connected to the internet, is setup for DHCP addressing (has addresses 192.168.1.33 - 192.168.1.50)
Router B 192.168.1.254 - is connected to it via LAN ports (i.e. LAN port on B is connected to LAN port on A), the gateway address is 192.168.1.1 (so it knows Router A is the gateway to the internet and main router. And lastly DHCP is disabled on Router B.

This should work.

Trig.

axer

Phil dublin wrote: »

becasue the two pcs i use for work are 20 meters away from the main router.

so i ran a 20 meter cable to my workspace. i need both pcs online and linked so i hooked up the second router.

So you are basically just using the second router as a switch. You would be better off just using a cheap switch for this (to simplify things) but the router does have a switch built in anyway so it will work but it just means that you need to use the right ports and have some features turned off.

Firstly, make sure you have DHCP turned off on the Netgear router and set an ip address that is not already used by anything on your network nor won't be used.

Next make sure you do not use the Internet/WAN port of the Netgear at all. Just use the switch ports which there is probably 4 of (if you let me know which Netgear you have I can be more specific).

Another thing you may need to do is turn off any built in firewall in the netgear although I suspect this will only affect you if you are currently using the Internet/WAN port to connect to the Cisco router (which I suspect you are using).

If you do the above then you should have no issues with regards the network anyway. After that it is stuff like firewalls/security software on the computers themselves.

Phil dublin

axer wrote: »

So you are basically just using the second router as a switch. You would be better off just using a cheap switch for this (to simplify things) but the router does have a switch built in anyway so it will work but it just means that you need to use the right ports and have some features turned off.

Firstly, make sure you have DHCP turned off on the Netgear router and set an ip address that is not already used by anything on your network nor won't be used.

Next make sure you do not use the Internet/WAN port of the Netgear at all. Just use the switch ports which there is probably 4 of (if you let me know which Netgear you have I can be more specific).

Another thing you may need to do is turn off any built in firewall in the netgear although I suspect this will only affect you if you are currently using the Internet/WAN port to connect to the Cisco router (which I suspect you are using).

If you do the above then you should have no issues with regards the network anyway. After that it is stuff like firewalls/security software on the computers themselves.

WORKS.

took the cable out of the internet port, and plugged it in to the lan port, hooked up the other 2 pc's there, and disabled DHCP and rebooted

now all the pcs are talking. thanks mate.

Phil dublin

Triangle wrote: »

Phil,
I'm not too sure of your I.T. knowledge, but how is addressing handled?
Is there one DHCP scope or are the addresses static?
Usually a router will hand out IP Addresses to computers connecting to it. It knows which addresses are gone and which it has left to hand out. With two routers on the same network, you'll be having two IP address 'controllers' which will cause issues, if you use dynamic addressing and not static.

Also, are both routers DSL routers (i.e. are both trying to find an internet connection)? If so, one will need to be configured to look at the other for the internet.

I have the setup you're looking to get and i've done it this way.

Router A 192.168.1.1 - this is connected to the internet, is setup for DHCP addressing (has addresses 192.168.1.33 - 192.168.1.50)
Router B 192.168.1.254 - is connected to it via LAN ports (i.e. LAN port on B is connected to LAN port on A), the gateway address is 192.168.1.1 (so it knows Router A is the gateway to the internet and main router. And lastly DHCP is disabled on Router B.

This should work.

Trig.

hi,

my I.T. knowledge is good, just not my networking.

altho im tryn to improve that now.

thanks for you help, i got it working. i disabled the dhcp and chnged the port. worked fist time. .

Phil dublin

big thansk lads.

that was really getting the better of me .

i have it working perfectly.

would i be best of to go and get a switch. ? im not get with switchs and routers.

but would i be right in sayn, once internet access is given to the switch, all other pcs connection can get online.

is it really that simple.

axer

Phil dublin wrote: »

big thansk lads.

that was really getting the better of me .

i have it working perfectly.

would i be best of to go and get a switch. ? im not get with switchs and routers.

but would i be right in sayn, once internet access is given to the switch, all other pcs connection can get online.

is it really that simple.

No need for a switch as what you have is effectively a router with a switch attached but since you are not using the router part of the netgear you effectively have a switch.

Yes, it is that simple - everything should just work as they are all on the same network now (i.e. no router in between the devices).

Phil dublin

that great, thanks again mate.

you ever have pc hardware or software problems give me a shout, and hopefully i can return the favour.

thanks again.