Networking a printer

[Guest]

Hello folks out there help me out here. Here is the detailed layout and
scenario.

I have two internal subnets 10.x.x.x and 192.x.x.x

Router A is connected to a DSL modem and being fed a internet address and
Router A which is also running as a DHCP is giving out the address of
192.x.x.x

Router B is connected to router A and receing its address 192.x.x.2 from
router A. However Router B configured to issue addresses 10.x.x.x to machines
that are connected to it.
Computer connected to Router B is an XP Professional SP 2. It works fines,
can browse internet as well as connect to the printer attached to Router A
computer and print too. Computers on Router A are all Windows2000

Here is the problem: I cannot print or connect to the printer that is
connected to XP computer on Router B. I have made sure that file and print
sharing are turned on. I have added a static route in router A thus now can
ping the router B both its gateways internal and external but cannot either
ping the computer on Router B or connect to the printer.

All firewalls are turned off. All antivirus and spams are disabled.

Any help please

 

[Jack \(MVP-Networking\).]

Hi
Local Traffic can not go up to B because the Router acting as a Firewall
blocks the traffic (the same way that it protects from the Internet
"invasion").
There is nothing that you can do about it short of getting rid of the second
Routing.
If you must use such a topology you can use a remote control program to
connect from A to B.
Jack (MVP-Networking).

 

[Guest]

But the firewall is turned off? I cannot even ping the computers that are
connected to Router B? Any other hope?

 

[Guest]

Anyone out there with any more ideas?

But the firewall is turned off? I cannot even ping the computers that are
connected to Router B? Any other hope?

 

[Jim]

Anyone out there with any more ideas?

You need to rethink your network. I suspect that you are asking for
problems when you have two lans with unroutable addresses.
Instead, you need to convert the router B to be just a switch. Why do you
have two routers anyway?
Jim

 

[Jack \(MVP-Networking\).]

Hi
It is Not a matter of turning a Firewall On or Off.
Router by its core function creates a NAT Firewall. That is what Routers Do
( http://www.ezlan.net/routers1.html ).
Two Routers can be used to create Segregated Network (
http://www.ezlan.net/shield.html )
But then the user take into consideration that there would be Sharing from B
to A and Not from A top B.
Otherwise use this type of configuration,
http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html
Jack (MVP-Networking).

 

[Guest]

What do I have to do to convert one router into a switch?

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

What do I have to do to convert one router into a switch?

You should just connect the cable that is currently connected to router
B to the switch used by the 192 network. I currently have machines on
four different subnets connected to the same switch and have no problems
connecting between the different machines.
In case any one is wondering there is the main network for the office, a
separate subnet for our WAN, the devices that move the traffic over the
WAN have a third subnet, and our auto-dialer uses a fourth subnet.

 

[Guest]

What do I have to do to convert one router into a switch?

Hi,

The best way is to get a switch, not convert a router into one. The
Internet would connect to the router, the router would connect to the switch,
and all the other computers would also connect to the switch. If physical
location / cabling is a problem, get multiple switches, as needed. The only
reason for more than one router is if you need to seperate the subnets for
some reason, but then this requires careful planning and routing set up.

However, if you really want to use the second router as a switch, you have a
couple of options:

1. Turn off NAT on Router B (if this is available). Turn off DHCP on
Router B. Make sure all computers are either set to use DHCP, or have a
192.x.x.x address (unique from each other).

2. Connect Router A to Router B via the LAN ports (cross-over cable may be
needed). Turn off DHCP on Router B. Make sure all computers are either set
to use DHCP, or have a 192.x.x.x address. (unique from each other)

Best Wishes,
Kurosh

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the details everyone. Kurosh you say that planning is required if
I want to create a new subnet. But if I create a subnet which is what I have,
the printing problem will not be resolved. Do you have a different point of
view from what others have already said?

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

Thanks for the details everyone. Kurosh you say that planning is required if
I want to create a new subnet. But if I create a subnet which is what I have,
the printing problem will not be resolved. Do you have a different point of
view from what others have already said?

Are you using network printers or printers attached to a PC and then
shared? In my network I have computers from three different subnets
printing to printers on their subnet and the others. All of my printers
either have a network connection or are attached to a print server
device so that they do not depend on a PC to be on.

 

[Guest]

I am using printers attached to a PC and shared. The problem is as you might
have read that I cannot access them for my 192 subnet. Any thoughts? Yes the
computers and printers are all turned on. Thank you for working on this with
me.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

I am using printers attached to a PC and shared. The problem is as you might
have read that I cannot access them for my 192 subnet. Any thoughts? Yes the
computers and printers are all turned on. Thank you for working on this with
me.

The simplest, and probably the most reliable, way to do this would be to
attach the printer(s) to a print server device for around $50 to $80.
This will remove the problem with trying to get the computers on the
different subnets talking to each other reliably.
The second option is to change the mask on the computers from
255.255.255.0 to something like 255.255.0.0 or even 0.0.0.0 to see if
this fixes the problem. You might also want to make sure that the route
table includes a path from each subnet to the other subnet.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the details everyone. Kurosh you say that planning is required if
I want to create a new subnet. But if I create a subnet which is what I have,
the printing problem will not be resolved. Do you have a different point of
view from what others have already said?

In reviewing what you've set up, it looks like this should work properly.

Some considerations:

a) You should ensure Router B's WAN port has a static IP, not one
dynamically assigned by Router A. From what you said, it sounds like it's
getting its address from Router A via DHCP. This will cause problems with
the statically assigned route for directing traffic from Router A's network
to Router B's network.

b) For the computers with shared resources, the best practise is to also
statically assign IPs to them as well. Otherwise, if their IP address
changes, getting to the shared resources will prove troublesome. You may
also want to use LMHOSTS or HOSTS in this case, especially for computers on
different subnets that have shared resources. The only other way around this
is to implement a WINS or DNS server, which associates NetBIOS name /
hostname to IP, and make sure all workstations get their information about
IPs from that. In this case, you'd have to make sure you connect via
hostname (not IP) to those resources, so that they will check WINS / DNS for
the most current IP address.

What I suggest is:

a) Do a "tracert" from a computer on Router A to the one with shared
resources on Router B, and let us know the results. It seems communication
is getting to Router B (since you can ping it's LAN address, which is on the
different subnet), but for some reason isn't getting to its subnet. Check
Router B's logs to see if it is filtering that traffic for any reason.

b) The computer on Router B you are trying to connect to might be blocking
communication for some reason. As was suggested, one of the best ways to get
around this is to implement a print server device (which the printer may
already have) and have the printer connect directly to the network. This
ensure the printer is available 24 / 7 (not dependent on the computer), and
also avoids any communication problems. Otherwise, you have to figure out
why it's blocking that traffic. Are other computers on Router B's network
able to connect to the printer on that computer?

Best Wishes,
Kurosh