Multiple NICS and routing on XP

[Brian]

Greetings,

I currently have wireless and wired NICs in my XP machine. Here is what I
am attempting to do:

All default traffic should go out over the wireless. The traffic to one
specific machine should go out over the wired connection (a machine sitting
right next to it).

The first problem I run into is that when I activate the wired connection,
it becomes the default connection, and all traffic goes out over it. I.E, I
can't see any other machines on the network nor get to the internet. How
does one control the priority of the NICS? You used to be able to do this, I
think, under NT just by assigning a number. However, that option does seem
to be available under XP.

The routing table makes it look like it uses both interfaces to resolve
routes. However, the results, and monitoring the connection say otherwise.


Once that problem is solved, is it just a matter of adding a static route
for that particular ip so that it uses the wired interface?

TIA
Brian

 

[Rob Elder, MVP-Networking]

You do this with a static route entry if the specific machine is one a
different IP subnet.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

Greetings,

I currently have wireless and wired NICs in my XP machine. Here is what I
am attempting to do:

All default traffic should go out over the wireless. The traffic to one
specific machine should go out over the wired connection (a machine sitting
right next to it).

The first problem I run into is that when I activate the wired connection,
it becomes the default connection, and all traffic goes out over it. I.E, I
can't see any other machines on the network nor get to the internet. How
does one control the priority of the NICS? You used to be able to do this, I
think, under NT just by assigning a number. However, that option does seem
to be available under XP.

The routing table makes it look like it uses both interfaces to resolve
routes. However, the results, and monitoring the connection say otherwise.


Once that problem is solved, is it just a matter of adding a static route
for that particular ip so that it uses the wired interface?

TIA
Brian

Do both NICs have IP addresses in the same subnet? If so, XP will use
one or the other of them to communicate with other computers, but it
won't use both.

You're correct that XP gives priority to a wired connection over a
wireless connection, because the rated speed of a wired connection is
faster than the rated speed of a wireless connection. You can read
the details of that here:

An Explanation of the Automatic Metric Feature for Internet Protocol
Routes
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=299540

If you assign a different subnet to each connection, it's possible to
use wired and wireless simultaneously.

I think that a better solution could be to create a network bridge
between the two connections, combining them into one logical
connection that allows a single subnet to be used on the wired and
wireless networks. I've written a web page with details:

XP ICS - Network Bridge
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_ics/networkbridge.htm
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Brian]

Greetings,

The solution turned out to be:
1) Set the metric very high on the wired network
2) add hosts file entry for the other machine (it too is on the wireless
network. The purpose of this exercise was to avoid using the wireless
network for communicating between these two machines
3) add a route specific to the machine.

Hope this experience proves of use to others!

Thanks for the responses.

Regards,
Brian