Hi,
What I would like to achieve is definitely out of my comfort and known-how zone; however, I would like to learn more about networking instead of just sticking with the basics.
GOAL:
I would like to split my internet connection between two Wifi routers(Netgear R8000 and ASUS RT-AC68U). I would also like to have two separate networks(Netgear on 192.168.1.x and ASUS on 172.17.x.x). I have connected two routers together in the past to expand connectivity by connecting the WAN OUT of the cable modem to one of the routers WAN in port and the second router LAN port to the first router LAN port. I then I had to shut DHCP off on the second router and other settings off to get the two routers to behave correctly. This time, I would like to have two separate networks and leave both the routers settings in tact.
I was thinking that I could achieve that by attaching a Managed switch to the WAN OUT port of my cable modem. Then attach an Ethernet cable from the switch to the WAN IN port on the Netgear and attach another Ethernet cable from the switch to the WAN IN port on the ASUS router.
My first thought is this idea seems rather simple; however, after thinking about the topology I have a feeling this will be a little bit more complicated than I thought.
A couple of questions arose after giving this idea a thought:
a) I setup multiple servers on both the 192.168.1.x network and the 172.17.x.x network. I would like to access the VPN server on the 172.17.x.x. How will the switch know which router to send the packets to?
b) Besides the two routers that I already own, what other networking equipment will I need to achieve connecting two separate networks(Netgear on 192.168.1.x and ASUS on 172.17.x.x) to one Internet connection?
You would only just need a basic switch.
Connect all of the cable modem's WAN out, and the WAN In on said routers. Setting up the routers with the correct gateway settings like so will still leave you with two completely separate networks.
As for multiple servers on those separate nets, setup port forwarding of the service, ie port 80 for http, on the modem to correspond to whatever router that server will be on. Then on the router, port forward to the correct host.
As for multiple servers on those separate nets, setup port forwarding of the service, ie port 80 for http, on the modem to correspond to whatever router that server will be on. Then on the router, port forward to the correct host.
I am not really sure if my cable modem has a feature that would allow me to "forward" to said port or ip address. My cable modem is a basic ARRIS SURboard SB6141 DOCSIS 3.0. I can access the cable modems STATUS by going to http://192.168.100.1; however, I clicked through the links on the STATUS page to check for "forwarding" and there isn't a "forwarding" section.
Unless your ISP gives you multiple public IPs then it won't work that way. If you just want to have two separate networks then what you can do is have the modem connect to one router, then connect the second router's WAN port to one of the first router's LAN ports. Internet traffic would have to pass through the first router to get to the second.
If your router supports VLANs then you can do this with one router (if your router supports being flashed with dd-wrt or openwrt then you can do this even if the router doesn't support VLANs natively)
If only from one PC then you could check out the O/S's routing table, this will allow you to direct different types of traffic to the different gateways
The Asus RT series routers can be flashed to DD-WRT howerever I would STRONGLY advise against it, as the wireless chipset they use is only half-supported by dd-wrt, and wireless performance is super diminished.
Ah, didn't realize you weren't using an ISP provided modem. Okay, so, grab a cheap Modem/Router combo from your local electronics store, it could even be the motorola version so that you don't have to sacrifice anything that you already have. Disable the Wireless AP so that you only have a switched router. Then said instructions should work.
May I ask, what is the exact situation you're wanting to do this with, as Dexter is correct about the fact that using multiple VLANs would be easier. You would also be able to lose an entire router.
May I ask, what is the exact situation you're wanting to do this with, as Dexter is correct about the fact that using multiple VLANs would be easier. You would also be able to lose an entire router.
The main reason behind this is to learn more about setting up networks.
Also, I would like to create a separate network away from my roommates network.
The way I setup my network now is:
-WAN out of my cable modem to WAN in on the Netgear router. Gateway 192.168.1.1
-LAN port 1 to WAN in on the ASUS. Gateway 10.0.0.1
I haven't messed with port forwarding yet so I am not sure if the forwarding will work correctly while using this setup.
You should be able to disable NAT on the ASUS router, that way you will only need to forward from the netgear router to whatever device you want to forward to. If you don't disable NAT you can still do it, but you need to forward from the netgear to the WAN address of the ASUS and then forward from the ASUS to the device.
That may work fine, however the topology is just weird. In a perfect scenario, you want all of your equal networking devices on the same level.
If all you have is two routers then that's the way to do it. If you want to get new hardware then you want a router which either has multiple LAN interfaces or can do VLANs. You can do it with openwrt and things like that, and pfsense is good too if you have a spare computer.