3 NICs in one 2k pro.

[Poonam Desai]

I have 12 2k pro.
8 off 12 are in office downstairs and 4 are in in another
office upstairs.
Both these network have 2 win2k pro with ICS enabled to
serve respective nodes.
There are two ISPs, one cable network for 8 machines
downstais and second DSL for 4 machines upstairs.
There is a print server downstairs and the server (for 3
machines upstairs ) needs to print using the same printer.
Here goes the structure of my network.

2 main cables coming from ISP, go directly into a cisco
switch. All 8 + 1 ( Servers LAN Cable) cables of network A
go in the same switch.One cable from Switch goes to
Network B's server's first NIC which is shared and has IP
61.xx.xx (DSL's given IP.) The LAN of this server goes
into a hub where remaining 3 machines meet up.
IP of DSL server is 61.xx.xx.xx
IP for LAN for DSL is 192.168.0.1
Ip of Cable server that serves 8 machines is 172.16.0.145.
IP of LAN for cable server is 10.0.0.1.

To print from DSL's server to the print server on Network
A , i gave additional IP to DSL's server 10.0.0.25 with
same subnet. On doing this everything worked fine for 20
minutes. Then 3 nodes under 61.xx.xx.xx lost connectivity
with 61.xx.xx.xx and internet. As soon as i removed
additional IP from 61.xx.xx.xx, nodes were able to connect
again. I figured i will have to install a third NIC in
DSL's server and plug it into the switch with IP
10.xx.xx.xx so that it will see Network A's print server.

Again! on doing this, everything worked fine for 10
minutes..and when connection got idle, DSL's server was no
longer able to connect to the print server. After reboot
it connected and then again lost connectivity once it got
idle.

So i tried to remove 10.xx.xx series from entire network
and made everything 192.xx.xx.xx

I gave Network A's server 192.168.0.111, gave Ips to 7
machines 192.168.0.112,113,114 all with gateway
192.168.0.111

DSL's server with Jumper LAN and MAIN 3 NICs were given
IPs as

MAIN 61.xx.xx.xx which is shared for LAN (192.168.0.124)

LAN 192.168.0.124 (which is pluged into a hub and has
nothing to do with anything other than those 3 machines
that it serves.)

Jumper 192.168.0.123 (Which is pluged into switch )
COOL! worked fine for 20 minutes. Loss of connectivity
once network gets idle. And normal after reboot.
(Rebooting DSL's server solves the problem )
if i ping 192.168.0.111 ( network A's server) from
61.xx.xx.xx Which has another 2 cards with 192.168.0.123 (
Jumper) and 192.168.0.124 (LAN) it LOOKS for 192.168.0.111
over LAN and not the JUMPER cable. It should look for
192.168.0.111 using 192.168.0.123 because cable of that
NIC is pluged into the switch. But instead it looks for
192.168.0.111 using NIC that has been assigned
192.168.0.124 ( i figured this out by keeping an eye on
sent received packets.)

This is getting very complicated now. Need help from some
one who knows how emotional packets are and where would
they go on doing what.

Thanks.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Ouch. This sounds like a real admin nightmare. I wouldn't use ICS, and do
you really need both cable & DSL? Get a decent router/firewall to share the
Internet connection, put everyone on the same IP network & be done with it.
With 12 computers I'd also say it may be time for a domain model. Workgroups
with more than a tiny handful of computers are a real pain.

 

[Pooanm]

Yes i need both Isps as both have downtimes, so i can
shift over using batch file NETSH command. Domain i
havntused atall. Do i need win2003? i can get it. or even
2k advanced server. I can do R&D myself. Just suggest.
Thanks.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Yes i need both Isps as both have downtimes, so i can
shift over using batch file NETSH command.

What about getting a router/firewall like one of the newer Sonicwalls that
supports load balancing and redundancy/dead link detection failover? That
way, you can flatten your internal network & not have to play around with
scripting stuff.

Domain i
havntused atall. Do i need win2003? i can get it. or even
2k advanced server.

You need either W2k or W2k3 server to set up a domain....might as well get
W2003, and also might want to pick up some books on AD/DNS etc before you
embark. I'd suggest getting decent server hw with hardware RAID and enough
disk space to store all your company's data centrally. A server is not
something to skimp on

I can do R&D myself. Just suggest.
Thanks.

No prob - hope this helps.