How do I use multiple routers on a network?

Question

I've had this network set up for a while, and it works just fine for every-day internet use. Unfortunately, I can't really do much in terms of intra-network stuff. From client 1, I can ping all of the components of the network. However, from client 2, I can't ping anything on router 2 (Including the server, which is hosted by a mac mini). Here's a quick illustration of my network, I'm not much of an artist: http://puu.sh/1ZXMn/

Answer 1

IP addresses belong to interfaces not to machines, so Router 1 has got to have at least two if not three IP addresses. Can you redraw the diagram with all the addresses, please.



Also, can you indicate which device(s) if any are responsible for DHCP and whether there's any NAT other than on Router 1 at the point that your own network hits the Internet.



Like Army Guy says, what you have drawn doesn't make sense, but I'm pretty sure we can get it to work for you with the extra information.

Answer 2

Router 2 (I'll call it R2) by default blocks all incoming port requests to it's LAN. Thus, R2 clients can go "out", and see all PCs on R1, but R1 cannot connect to R2's PCs because R2 is doing it's job, blocking incoming requests unless you port forward them....



Basically you have two separate LANs, one of which is isolated/protected by R2



Your solutions are:

1) Open all ports required on R2 to allow browsing, etc. That can be quite a few ports, and hard to manage

2) Change R2 to a switch only, do not use its WAN port, only the LAN ports.

3) Some routers have configuration where you can change the "router" mode to some other "switch" or "gateway" mode.



For #2, I've described how to do this before (was related to two wifi routers, but still applies):

https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20101103100415AA8Gldt

Answer 3

You have your routers on different subnets.



If you want to be able to talk between devices they need to be on the same subnet. Simplest way would be to change router 2 IP to 192.168.1.2 and don't use it's WAN port. See details below in "Multiple Routers".



If you are going to buy a switch, you would want to replace router 2 with the switch not router 1. (Router 1 has the WAN connection)



ROUTER FUNCTION:

A router connects two separate networks and manage the traffic between them.



In most home network applications the router connects your local group of computers and devices known as the LAN with the Internet, commonly called the WAN or Wide Area Network.



The router usually assigns unique Local IP addresses to all of the devices connected to it via a service known as DHCP. The addresses assigned by your router are private addresses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network and are not routable across the Internet.



Your cable or DSL modem will get a Public WAN IP address from your ISP's DHCP service. These public IP addresses are leased in blocks by your ISP and are Internet routeble. The modem is connected to the WAN port on your router. The router will manage the traffic between the devices on the LAN and the Internet.



Depending on your ISP your WAN IP might be dynamic (changing periodically) or static (fixed).



MULTIPLE ROUTERS:

Unless you have experience in network configuration, it's not a good idea to use multiple routers unless you turn off the routing functions and use them as wireless access points. Your wireless signals will interfere with each other if they're operating on the same wireless channel. A router also acts as a DHCP server to assign IP addresses, you only want one DHCP service running.



Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is an auto configuration protocol used on IP networks. Computers that are connected to IP networks must be configured before they can communicate with other computers on the network. DHCP allows a computer to be configured automatically, eliminating the need for intervention by a network administrator. It also provides a central database for keeping track of computers that have been connected to the network. This prevents two computers from accidentally being configured with the same IP address. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol



You'll need to manually configure the second router before placing it into service. The IP address needs changed so it doesn't conflict with the first router, the DHCP functions should also be disabled on the second router.



You'll have to connect a PC or laptop directly to the second router via Ethernet and log into it's interface to change it's IP. You'll want to change this to something that doesn't conflict with the first router but is in the same subnet.



Plug a Ethernet cable from LAN port on the first router into one of the LAN ports on the second router, Don't use the second router's WAN port for anything.



Use non overlapping wireless channels such as 1, 6, 11. You can use the same SSID for everything. If you turn of the wireless radio on the first router this step is unnecessary.



For example if you main router has an IP of 192.168.1.1 and it broadcasts on channel 1.



Set your second router as an access point with an IP of 192.168.1.2 and have it broadcast on channel 6.



Although it is not absolutely necessary, I would also reserve the second router's IP in the first router's configuration or set DHCP to assign a range that doesn't include the second router. For example if your devices had the IPs listed above and you wanted to allocate up to 20 DHCP IP addresses you could set the range from 192.168.1.10 to 192.168.1.30. This way in case the second router were powered off for some reason DHCP would not assign 192.168.1.2 to another device which would cause an IP conflict when the second router was powered back up.



Good Luck...

Answer 4

James what you are trying to do MAKES NO SENSE , since using two different routers is going to cause two different subnets . thus machines on one router will not communicate with those on the other . simply use 1 router and a 12 or 24 port switch