- Nov 2, 2012
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I have an interesting situation and I was wondering if anyone here could help me understand my network.
We have 30 computers in our office, and given our geographic location, we have limited options when it comes to internet connections. 1 DSL line proved to be insufficient, and boosting speed wasn't an option, so we ordered a 2nd line.
We have 2 routers now, 1 for each DSL line. We have 1 shared printer, and 1 shared file server. Here's how the network is currently set up.
..................................File Server
........................................|
Internet --- Modem --- Router A --- Hub --- Printer
...................................................|
...............Internet --- Modem --- Router B
Router A is 192.168.1.1, Router B is 192.168.1.3. Right now, DHCP is enabled on both Routers, with non-overlapping scopes. Both routers have assigned the same IP to the printer. If I connect wirelessly to router A, I can get to router B's setup page by entering it's internal IP, even though I have an IP that's in the scope of router A. I'm guessing it's going through the hub (yes, hub, not switch).
What I'm primarily concerned with is evenly distributing the hosts between the modems so that neither one gets bogged down and slow. The issue is that it seems to be a crapshoot as to which router is actually the gateway. For example, if I open the wireless connections dialog in Windows and pick Router B's wireless connection it's possible that I'm merely using Router B as an access point, and I end up getting Router A as my DHCP server/gateway/internet. So, it will say I'm connected to Router B, but clearly I have an IP that's within the scope Router A. Either way, I can still print and access the file server.
If I want to make half the computers use one DSL line, and half of the computers use the other, do I have to manually configure each computer or is there some way around this? Aside from that, are there problems that I'm not foreseeing here? i.e. IP conflicts, hardware freakouts, etc.
We have 30 computers in our office, and given our geographic location, we have limited options when it comes to internet connections. 1 DSL line proved to be insufficient, and boosting speed wasn't an option, so we ordered a 2nd line.
We have 2 routers now, 1 for each DSL line. We have 1 shared printer, and 1 shared file server. Here's how the network is currently set up.
..................................File Server
........................................|
Internet --- Modem --- Router A --- Hub --- Printer
...................................................|
...............Internet --- Modem --- Router B
Router A is 192.168.1.1, Router B is 192.168.1.3. Right now, DHCP is enabled on both Routers, with non-overlapping scopes. Both routers have assigned the same IP to the printer. If I connect wirelessly to router A, I can get to router B's setup page by entering it's internal IP, even though I have an IP that's in the scope of router A. I'm guessing it's going through the hub (yes, hub, not switch).
What I'm primarily concerned with is evenly distributing the hosts between the modems so that neither one gets bogged down and slow. The issue is that it seems to be a crapshoot as to which router is actually the gateway. For example, if I open the wireless connections dialog in Windows and pick Router B's wireless connection it's possible that I'm merely using Router B as an access point, and I end up getting Router A as my DHCP server/gateway/internet. So, it will say I'm connected to Router B, but clearly I have an IP that's within the scope Router A. Either way, I can still print and access the file server.
If I want to make half the computers use one DSL line, and half of the computers use the other, do I have to manually configure each computer or is there some way around this? Aside from that, are there problems that I'm not foreseeing here? i.e. IP conflicts, hardware freakouts, etc.
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