XP Home Ed & Multiple NICs - can I set routes?

[CB]

Hello,

I have a subnet - 192.168.1.0, on it are four devices not counting the cable
modem.

One of these devices is my laptop and it needs to connect to the other
three. I'd like to use additional NICs to setup alternate paths so each
device can have it's own NIC. If it doesn't know a device, then use it's
default route and go out the cable modem.

What'd I'd want is something like:

192.168.1.100 >>>>use>>>>> NIC1
192.168.1.101 >>>>use>>>>> NIC2
192.168.1.102 >>>>use>>>>> NIC3
anything else (unknown) >>>>use>>>>> NIC4 - default

Is this possible by adding routes? My understanding is, since it's the same
subnet, if I add multiple NICs, it'll just use one (lowest MAC I believe).

Thanks in advance.
-Chris

 

[Robert L. \(MS-MVP\)]

You can setup ICS. This how to may help,

How to setup Windows ICSWindows 2000 supports both Network Address
Translation (NAT) and Internet Confection Shading (ICS) al1ow workgroup
users to access to the Internet. ...
www.howtonetworking.com/Windows/ics.htm


--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com

 

[Steve Winograd]

Hello,

I have a subnet - 192.168.1.0, on it are four devices not counting the cable
modem.

One of these devices is my laptop and it needs to connect to the other
three. I'd like to use additional NICs to setup alternate paths so each
device can have it's own NIC. If it doesn't know a device, then use it's
default route and go out the cable modem.

What'd I'd want is something like:

192.168.1.100 >>>>use>>>>> NIC1
192.168.1.101 >>>>use>>>>> NIC2
192.168.1.102 >>>>use>>>>> NIC3
anything else (unknown) >>>>use>>>>> NIC4 - default

Is this possible by adding routes? My understanding is, since it's the same
subnet, if I add multiple NICs, it'll just use one (lowest MAC I believe).

Thanks in advance.
-Chris

Is there a broadband router between your cable modem and computers?
Cable modems don't typically assign multiple IP addresses or use a
private IP range like 192.168.1.x.

Here are some routes that might do what you want:

route add 192.168.1.100 mask 255.255.255.255 NIC1-IP-ADDRESS
route add 192.168.1.101 mask 255.255.255.255 NIC2-IP-ADDRESS
route add 192.168.1.102 mask 255.255.255.255 NIC3-IP-ADDRESS
route delete 192.168.1.0
route add 192.168.1.0 mask 255.255.255.0 NIC4-IP-ADDRESS

The last one is a subnet route, not the default route. Don't change
the default route, which routes traffic to hosts not on your subnet
(e.g. Internet sites).

However, having multiple NICs in the same subnet is likely to cause
problems, and I recommend not doing it. Why do you think that's
better than using a single NIC to connect to all of the other devices?
--
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

 

[CB]

Yes, I have a broadband router between my cm and computers. It's what is
serving up the DHCP addresses.

However, having multiple NICs in the same subnet is likely to cause
problems, and I recommend not doing it. Why do you think that's
better than using a single NIC to connect to all of the other devices?
--

My thoughts are that I could get better performance / throughput having
dedicated (wireless) links to each device from the laptop.

In a nutshell, the laptop does constant downloads from two of these devices
and then uploads the end result to the third.

 

[James Egan]

Yes, I have a broadband router between my cm and computers. It's what is
serving up the DHCP addresses.

Where are you suggesting the bottleneck on your Internet connection
speed is?

If your wireless can't handle the download rate of the cable modem
then look at changing the channel, fiddling around with the wireless
settings or upgrading the aerial (antenna).

My thoughts are that I could get better performance / throughput having
dedicated (wireless) links to each device from the laptop.

This is barking up the wrong tree entirely. Resolve the one wireless
problem you have (that's a guess btw) rather than making four
wireless problems.


Jim.

 

[Jack \(MVP-Networking\).]

Hi
Using Real Server OS (like Windows 2003) and Special managed switches might
help in such an issue.
Otherwise It sound verbally nice, but Network comprised of Client OS
(regular Windows), and regular entry level hardware does not work this way.
You are wasting your time and money (on extra NICs).
Jack (MVP-Networking).