Two routers from one PC

Mr_S · 3 Jan 2010 at 17:54

I have this setup and want to ditch PC3 which is now only used for administering the BT home hub.

I would like to use PC1 to access the BT home hub, not for broadband but for admin only.

I am thinking I need to add a Network card to PC1

How do I tell XP to only access the internet through one NIC and not another while still giving me acess to the second connections router?

or am I looking at it all wrong and missing a more simple solution

I know I could just plug the cable into the home hub when I need it but I would like a permanent setup as it is all built in / hidden behind my desk.

J.B · 3 Jan 2010 at 17:58

If you connect PC1 to the home hub but for that NIC only give it an IP and subnet mask but dont give it a default gateway, this way it will not route internet traffic and will use the other NIC which is connected to the D Link and has a default gateway set.

Mr_S · 3 Jan 2010 at 18:12

Is it really that simple?

Will I still be able to browse to the home hubs ip adress without a gateway?

blueboy2001 · 3 Jan 2010 at 18:42

I don't know anything about BT Vision boxes and whether they need DHCP, but if you can set the network settings manually then I'd just turn off DHCP on the Homehub, allocate it an IP address from the D-Link and run a cable between the DLink and the Homehub. You will then be able to adminster the Homehub from any of the PC's.

Syngress · 3 Jan 2010 at 18:46

As has been mentioned there are two possible ways of doing this, either add another NIC to PC1 and configure that NIC with an IP from the BT range and no default route, this will still allow all other traffic to use the DLINK router.....

Or connect the BT Homehub to the dlink router, make sure DHCP is not enabled on the home hub, so it gets an IP from the DLINK then use that IP as the management IP

Nick1881 · 3 Jan 2010 at 19:05

Go to the network adapters screen, then go to the properties, Advanced TCP/IPv4 then set Interface metric for each LAN connection.

It uses the lowest number first.

Zarf · 3 Jan 2010 at 19:10

You might want to look into getting a dual WAN router, and take full advantage of your two links.
That aside, if you can set the ip address and gateway manually on the bt-vision box, do that, disable dhcp on the homehub and make sure the homehub has a unique ip that the d-link wont try to assign.
then you can cable the homehub and d-link together between their lan ports.

This way any dhcp devices get all their info from the d-link, but you can set your bt-vision box to use the homehub by setting the homehub ip as the gateway.
You could also set any of your dhcp pc's up to use the homehub connection for certain ip's by using the route add command, that way you could download and game on the same pc at the same time.

Mr_S · 4 Jan 2010 at 09:20

Thanks for your help

I will look into turning off the DHCP on the home hub although I suspect the vision box needs it.

Cheers

bledd · 4 Jan 2010 at 10:21

I think homehubs have wireless right?

I'd just add a usb wirless thing to PC1 and only plug it in when you want to administer that router.

Just disable the LAN / Wireless on PC1 depending on which you want to use..

You won't need to access it that often right?

Mr_S · 4 Jan 2010 at 15:25

The home hub actually has the wireless disabled as it seemed to cause problems with my other wireless routers signal whatever channel it used, it uses a pair of homeplugs to get to the vision box.