Two Networks At Once

[shawy14]

Hello All,

I am just about to move into uni and I have been thinking of my network there (yep you can tell I am a proper geek). In the accommodation there is a LAN cable provided for Internet access, this can only be used on one PC.

However I have other devices such as my laptop, my media player and media streamer. My PC has two network ports.

Is it possible to plug the uni LAN into one port and have the other port connected to a switch, where all the other devices are connected, and have the computer share the internet connection?

Thanks

Richard

[Jmtyra]

It is possible, yes, or you could purchase a cheap router. Plug the uni LAN cable into the router WAN port, and all of your stuff into the router. Plus it'd offer you some protection from other "adventurous nerds" that happen to be on the same network. ;)

I also mention this, as the power draw on a router would be much less than leaving your PC on all the time, or if you had to reboot your PC, etc.

[shawy14]

Oh yeah why didn't I just think router haha. Thanks for the advice. I shall have to wait to get one though (student finance goes in bank in a couple of weeks) so I shall try out the two networks thing.

On the PC if you are connected to two networks, what would happen if you pinged 192.168.0.10 if there was a device with that IP on both networks?

[Jmtyra]

All good. ;)

It depends on how you have things setup on your PC. I don't usually setup a network in that manner, so I'm not sure exactly, but, it'd default to one or the other. I could be wrong, but one of the networking gurus should be able to help out with that question.

[Noshei]

There is a great program that will allow you to share your network connection from your computer through a wireless card and create a separate wireless network with it.

http://www.connectify.me/index.html

I dont believe it will work with a hardwired connection going out to the local network but It will work with a hardwired connection coming in.

[CompuTamer]

This can be done pretty easily. I'd just get a switch and plug the uplink port into the wall though :) Most Uni's don't care about stuff like that. It'd be easier than setting a router to router connection up too.

If you want to go the other way, set up a static IP on your desktop, and then turn on internet sharing from the port that's connected to the uni network. You should then be able to set static IPs in the rest of the stuff behind the switch and be good to go. Windows doesn't have a DHCP server though, so you have to set everything manually.

[dark_15]

I'd be wary about adding a router into the school network. Most competent network admins will be able to find such devices relatively easily and will probably block your access to the internet. Heck the real good ones require you to login to the network via Network Access Control (NAC) before you can even get an IP address and/or transmit data across the network. I would check your school's student guide/network access before introducing new hardware on the network - same goes for ICS.

Does any of your hardware use wireless? Also is there wireless access provided by the uni?

[Jmtyra]

Ah, dark brings up some good points. Even if it 'can' work, you don't want to get the IT staff on your back. Bad jojo. :(

[shawy14]

Yeah that is a good point, getting on the wrong side of IT staff ruins life haha. I should know because im a technician.

Yeah a couple of the devices use wireless but they kind of need to connect to the shared drives on the PC.

This is proving a little difficult hmm.