just added second switch to home network - now i cant access other computers

[nemaNIN]

i've had a cable modem connected to a SMC 4 port switch/router. both use DHCP

today i added a new D-Link 4 port switch and a WAP (which also uses DHCP) by plugging the WAN port of the D-Link to the 4th LAN port of the SMC. i also moved one computer (xp) hard wired from the SMC to the D-link and connected my laptop (xp) to the WAP with my new WiFi card.

there are 2 other computers still connected to the SMC, both xp.

all 4 computers can access the internet through the cable modem, so the setup itself must be at least marginally correct.

however, both computers on the SMC can browse eachother, and both computers on the D-Link can browse eachother, but a computer on the SMC cannot browse a computer on the D-Link.

this is my first experience in networking and, as a result, today was the first time trying to 'daisy chain' switches.... so i dont really even know where to start.

How do i make computers on seperate, but connected, switches communicate?

thanx L)
nema

 

[Lord Evermore]

Did you reboot any of the machines when you switched them over? Just a random possibility that often fixes problems. Technically your machines should all be broadcasting their NetBIOS names for Windows Networking, and the switches should be passing the information between each other. I suppose possibly one or the other has a configuration option that's stopping that.

 

[Kaiynne]

the computers may be on different subnets.
go into a dos prompt and type:

ipconfig /all

this will give you all of the network info for each nic. make sure that the ip addresses are in the same subnet ie.

192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 are in the same subnet

10.0.0.1 and 10.0.1.2 are not and will not be able to browse each other.

the reason you might have such a problem is that you have two dhcp servers on the network. i wasn't able to work out exactly from your description of your hardware.

If you have the all ip adresses in the same subnet and they still don't talk then you might try uplinking the switch and connecting one pc to it and one to the router and testing to see if they can see each other.

also one thing which i am sure you have done would be to make sure to double check that they are all on the same workgroup, this is the first thing to check so you probably have done so, but it is easy to miss it and if they are on different workgroups you will often have trouble viewing other machines.

 

[TJN23]

i was thinking checking the workgroups yea

 

[JackMDS]

Quote: by plugging the WAN port of the D-Link to the 4th LAN port of the SMC.

Well congratulations you graduated from a LAN to WAN.

Option 1. Use a regular port for the inter-switch connection instead of the D-Link WAN port, and leave only One DHCP On. This way you are back to LAN.

Option 2. Do some reading and learning concerning setup and configurations of WAN.

 

[nemaNIN]

aight, jack.... any good sites for beginners?

 

[Lord Evermore]

I assumed that since it was a D-Link "switch" with a WAP built in, that the "WAN" port was actually the uplink port, and therefore only inter-switch connecting was happening. Might want to think about returning the device for an actual switch and WAP if you bought a router just to get the functions of a switch.

Kaiyinne: if they were just switches and they had different IP networks, then the two computers on the D-Link wouldn't be able to get online, since the router wouldn't have more than one network assigned to its LAN port. Of course if it is actually a D-Link router connected via WAN port, then there's obviously an extra NAT hop in there.

 

[Kaiynne]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
I assumed that since it was a D-Link "switch" with a WAP built in, that the "WAN" port was actually the uplink port, and therefore only inter-switch connecting was happening. Might want to think about returning the device for an actual switch and WAP if you bought a router just to get the functions of a switch.

Kaiyinne: if they were just switches and they had different IP networks, then the two computers on the D-Link wouldn't be able to get online, since the router wouldn't have more than one network assigned to its LAN port. Of course if it is actually a D-Link router connected via WAN port, then there's obviously an extra NAT hop in there.

If he is using one as a switch and one as a router but both have DHCP enabled then he might be in a situation where the the router directly connected to the modem is allocating address to the second router on its wan port and the two machines connected directly to it. Then the machines connected to the second router are having addresses allocated to them which are in a different subnet as the default dhcp settings will be different for different brands. this would result in all of the machines being able to access the modem but the machines directly connected to the different routers not being able to view each other due to the differing IPs.

So he would be able to use the wan port on the second router provided he turned off dhcp on that router then the machines would all be allocated by the same router. However i am with you in that i think that extra NAT hop would more than likely cause a few issues because these routers are not desinged to be daisy chained through the wan port out of the box. Ports would have to be mapped and that would more than likely get ugly.

 

[Lord Evermore]

That would only apply if he had the second device plugged into with a "WAN" port and it was in fact a router. If it was actually a switch, as I thought, or a router that he only connected with the LAN ports, then the second DHCP server (as I see that some WAPs do include a DHCP server) would result in two networks being configured (or simply conflicts) and the two machines on the d-link wouldn't be able to connect, because the router wouldn't be performing NAT on its own internal network, and the second network couldn't communicate with the cable modem.

If the device is a router, and it's connected via the WAN port, then there is no way he can make it work properly. The router will be performing NAT between the two computers and the main router, and the broadcasts used by Windows networking will not pass by that. Only if the two devices are connected via a switch port, not a WAN port, will it work properly.

 

[nemaNIN]

am i understanding correctly that i should try turning off the NAT filtering on the D-Link?

how about some good sites for reading up about basic network config?

 

[Kaiynne]

It might be easier to give a description of what you need to do based on your described hardware rather than trying to work out what you have allready done.

It seems to me that you have run out of ports on your router. So your best bet is to get another switch and uplink to the router. if you have two routers then you need to turn off all of the router like activity on the second router and just use it like it is a switch. Obviously this is not as cost effective as simply getting a switch but if that is what you have to work with then you need to compromise. Now for the Ap you need to wire this into the router directly to avoid any extra difficulties. If the AP is also a router eg an airport base station or something like it then you also need to disable any router like features on it. Essentially what i am getting at is that you only need one router for your network three is overkill. So your best choice of hardware if you have the option is your original router a 4 or 8 port switch and a straight AP no routing inbuilt. If you allready have everything then disable everything on the two devices so that you essentially a router acting like a switch and a wireless router acting like a wireless switch.

Hope that helps.

Oh yeah don't use the wan port as an uplink.

 

[nemaNIN]

well.. the SMC is my roomates and the new D-link + WAP is mine. i dont want just a WAP b/c eventually i will change roomated and i want a router and a WAP. so thats what i got.

also, i am not out of port on either of the routers, however, my roomates SMC router has a print server which we use.

this is a basic diagram of our set up.

(Cable Mod)
.......|
(SMC Router) -- (Printer)
.......|..\.......\
.......|...\........\
.......|....\........\
.......| (PC1) (PC2)
.......|
(D-Link Rout)
.......|....w
.......|......w
.......|........w
.......| (laptop)
(PC3)

| = cat 5 ethernet cord
w = wireless 802.11x connection
. = is just a place holder so it formats correctly

All PCs and Laptop can access the internet AND the printer, so they can get on the internet and print over the network
PC1 and PC 2 can browse eachother. PC3 and Laptop can browse eachother

PC1 and PC2 Can Not browse PC3 and laptop

(Cable Modem), (SMC Router), and (D-Link Router) all perform DHCP functions
(SMc Router) and (D-Link router) perform NAT and ip cloning, etc (alot of other functions)

(SMC router) uses the ip 192.168.2.1 , and assigns PC1 and PC2 a sub-ip address from that
(D-Link router) uses the ip 192.168.0.1 , and assigns PC3 and Laptop a sub-ip address from that

what can i do to make PC1 be able to browse PC3?

and, again, is there a good site to read up on the basics about this stuff?

thanx for all your help so far...
anander's are the best!
Nema

 

[nemaNIN]

would i be better off, all in all, buying a router and a seperat WAP, or buying a WAP with integrated router?

(yes, i already have the WAP w router, but i could return it)