networking dilemma at work

[TallBill]

Ok.. we have a 20 pc network at work.. and a router hooked into the 2 hubs that connect everything.. i have the router being a dhcp server handing out ips to individual pcs for right now... but.. about 5 of the pcs also need to sorta be part of their own mini network with cash registers (touch screens) that use their own preset ip addresses... so.. right now to switch from dsl use to register use you have to manually change the ip and the cable from one main hub of 20 pcs to a smaller hub with 4 or 5 devices.. now.. theres GOTTA be a way to get around this....


btw, we're using nt 4.0 and win2k... its slightly possible to upgrade to win2k, but i doubt it

 

[ScottMac]

If the slots are available, you should be able to add a second NIC to the POS systems, connecting them to another hub (switch would probably be better) and giveing them an exclusinve channel.

Set the default gateway for the DSL router. Since all the POS systems are directly connected to their own LAN, any traffic between them (or them and the server) would automatically use the right NIC/LAN.

Good Luck

Scott

 

[TallBill]

only problem is... and i havnt tested this fully.. that assinging two ips to a machine.. one on each NIC.. runs us into conflicts with other machines.. am i doing something wrong with assinging ips to the 2nd nic? if the 2nd nic is on its own network.. shouldnt it not matter?

and actually.. someone else was putting in the 2nd nics.. and she might have messed it up

 

[ScottMac]

If the two NICs are on different IP address blocks/different network numbers, there should be no interference. NT4 is smart enough to know that this NIC belongs to this network, and that NIC belongs to that network.

If you want to make sure there was no overlap or confusion, try another completely different private address block, like 172.16.1.0 or 10.1.1.0.

Using a Class A or B address is massive overkill for a handfull of machines, but it reduces the chance of confusion setting up 192.168.1.0 and 192.168.2.0.

FWIW

Scott

 

[TallBill]

well actually.. two ips that im usin on one machine are

110.64.51.9 and 10.10.10.1 (pos ip)

and then the 2nd machine is

110.64.51.8 and 10.10.10.1

lemme test it out

 

[TallBill]

hmm.. after adding the 2nd nic in this machine.. i cant seem to get tcp-ip properties for it.. but it shows up under adapters.. what do i gotta do?