We have two houses close enough together to get a good wifi link. Currently they are setup as independent networks with their own VPNS gateways to the internet (n.n.1.d & n.n.2.d). The routers used are ASUS RT-AC87U & DSL-AC68U.
What I would like to be able to do is link both networks internally together allowing me to - Backup my FreeNAS box using RSYNC to a Qnap NAS in the other house (scheduled once a week currently in the same house). - Allow access to all servers and plugins like PLEX from either house. - Still use the local internet connections on either side or if there is an issue be able to switch over to the other one. We both have to work from home on a regular basis.
I am happy to hard code any network settings at PC/Server level and currently 3 NAS boxes and 6 PCs + ROCU, 3 squeeze boxes.
I have a spare Asus RT-AC68U & Belkin F5D8635-4 v1 N+ routers.
Can you set up a vpn between the two sites? That is how my work does it between offices. they have a constant vpn running i believe it is from firewall to firewall. I think you need some form of a router that connects the two networks. I am not real sure on this subject.
Thanks for the reply. The routers do have the option of linking to each other via a free vpn for syncing the contents of attached usb drives and own cloud. But I would prefer an option of linking to two sides over WIFI so I am not dependent on the internet link to use PLEX or to backup the servers.
I think i know what you are going for, but you will most likely need either two more routers or two bridges. It's probably cheaper to get two more bridges.
You would wirelessly bridge the two bridges. Those would need to be on the same subnet. Each of those bridges would need to be attached to one of your secondary routers in their own respective building. Then you would run a wire from the wan port on your secondary routers (the ones your bridges are plugged into) to one of the lan ports (or a switch) on your primary router. After that you would need to add a route on each of your primary routers that points to the other network.
So primary networks would be 10.0.1.0/24 & 10.0.2.0/24 Secondary routers would get their WAN ip's from your primary network. (set these statically) Secondary networks would be 10.0.10.0/24 & 10.0.20.0/24 Secondary routers would give IPs to the bridges on their Lan sides (set these statically as well) The bridges will connect wirelessly. You would give them a common SSID to form the join.
On router 10.0.1.1 you would add a route for 10.0.2.0/24 that points to 10.0.1.2 (or whatever the ip is of the lan side of the secondary router on this network)
On router 10.0.2.1 you would add a route for 10.0.1.1/24 that points to 10.0.2.2 (or what ever the ip is of the lan side of the secondary router on this network)
This would give you the ablility to connect directly over wifi wihout sending any traffic over the internet. I have not looked at networking hardware in some time, but there may be something out there that lets you bridge two different subnets. That way you could do away with the secondary routers.
Another option would be to put all the systems on the same subnet, bridge the connections with those extra wireless routers, and have each main router dish out a specific range of ips with DHCP. For example 10.0.0.10-50 and the other router dish out 10.0.0.51-100. That way you would avoid any conflicts, and you would avoid the secondary building loosing ip addresses if the wireless bridge failed.
Someone correct me if i am wrong or if you know of a better way. This works in my head, but obviously i have not tried it.