Joining two networks

Jamauk · 14 Dec 2010 at 17:29

I'm looking to join networks with a relative who lives a few houses away; previously I've used Hamachi to join networks however I'm now looking for a faster solution without the download constraints of their ISP (Sky 2GB cap!).

I've bridged their router (DG834GT) to my access point (WG602v2). However the problem is with the routing side of things as we still want to use our own internet connections.

Equipment my side:

Netgear WG602v2
Linksys WRT54GL (running Tomato)
Linksys BEFSR41 (not currently in use)
Netgear RP614 (not currently in use)

Equipment their side:

Netgear DG834GT

How can I set this up to work?

Phemo · 14 Dec 2010 at 17:45

Since you've bridged two networks I'm assuming you're both sharing a single subnet range which means routing shouldn't be an issue. The only problem that you should have is with DHCP since you can't have two DHCP servers serving different scopes on the same network (if you forget about DHCP failover). You can either both assign static IP addresses therefore using your own individual routers as your default gateway or have one of you assign static addresses with the relevant router as the default gateway leaving the other DHCP server active.

Otherwise your only option is to keep to two different subnet ranges entirely and have a second router on one network with the wireless bridging going on to allow connection to the other network. Then you'd just need to use static routes on the main router to tell it that traffic destined for the remote network needs to use the second newly added router rather than the one for the Internet connection.

FoxEye · 14 Dec 2010 at 18:16

You can use the DHCP server to split them into two groups, based on MAC address, or so I thought.

Ie one group gets a gateway of X (for MACs A, B, C, D) and the other group gets a gateway of Y (for MACs E, F, G, H) directly from the DHCP server.

Or just configure static IPs on all the machines and configure the gateway for each one manually too. Is very simple and easy to do on a small network.

Jamauk · 14 Dec 2010 at 18:28

Thanks for the replies. I haven't actually tried adjusting any of the settings yet, other than bridging the networks - although there should already be two different subnets (here it's 192.168.1.xxx the other network should be 192.168.2.xxx)

Turning off DHCP isnt really an option here due to the number of computers connected to my router.

How should I setup static routing as it's not something I've ever attempted:

FoxEye · 14 Dec 2010 at 18:49

If you've bridged the networks how have you ended up with two different subnets? That's not what a bridge does? I thought a bridge joined two networks with the same subnet... If it's two different subnets you're routing not bridging?

FoxEye · 14 Dec 2010 at 19:26

Sounds like you want something like this:

internet
|
|
|-------gateway A----switch-----router 1--------------network 1
|,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,|
|,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,|-----------access point A = bridge
|
|
|-------gateway B----switch-----router 2---------------network 2
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,|
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,|-----------accesspoint B = bridge

Router 1 has a default gateway of gateway A.
Router 2 has a different default gateway.

network 1 and 2 exist on different subnets. Eg 192.168.2.0 and 10.0.1.0.
all machines use DHCP. all config done once only on routers.

router 1 can route to network 2 via router 2 across the bridge. setup a static route for it.
router 2 can route to network 1 via another static route.

The switch is likely built into your gateway, but it makes it easier to explain to separate it on the picture here.

Jamauk · 14 Dec 2010 at 20:27

Thanks FoxEye, thats exactly how I would like it.

I wont get to have a look at it for a couple of days now, but 'in theory' it should be just re-connect the bridge (disconnected due to the routing problems) and change the router settings.

Thanks once again, I'll keep this thread updated with any success/problems I encounter!

Jamauk · 25 Dec 2010 at 10:14

Just a quick update,

Yesterday I managed to get the bridge setup as planned and I decided it would be easier to use static IP's at the other house as there is only 3 devices there (Laptop, Wii & BluRay player). I also decided I would use my WRT54GL (tomato) for Wi-fi and use the two WG602's for the bridge with one at each location.

I can now report that it was a complete success and now using Synctoy, my auntie and uncle now have their files backed up to my WHS on a daily basis.

Thanks for all your help & Merry Christmas.