Multiple routers on network help

I've spent the past 12 hours trying to get two separate IP addys hooked up to two linksys routers... it sounds easy, and in fact it is... but it doesn't work right.

For the past year or two, we have been running our T1 connection with 1 IP, and that 1 IP was connected to one of our two win2k servers. That server hasn't been runnning too smoothly lately, so I got the great idea to use some of the other IPs our ISP gives us (they give us 5) to have both machines hooked up and running DNS, webserver, etc...

Well... the hooking up isn't a problem, it seems to be a problem getting both of them to forward ports or somehow make it past the Linksys routers. The only success I've had so far, has been in disconnecting one of the two routers... then our website/DNS/whatever works.

This doesn't seem to be an external (ISP's router) problem... when I have both linksys routers hooked up, and have DNS properly setup, I cannot even connect to our own website from the server it is running from... by IP address or header name... Altho I can ping both addresses successfully, just without actually getting past the router it seems.

Neither router has DHCP enabled, and only one of them is a gateway... I have tried giving them separate subnet masks, making them both DMZ hosts, forwarding EVERY port, etc... nothing seems to work right.

By disconnecting one of the routers, and getting the first router working... and then reconnecting the other router, I SEEM to have the one router working while both are connected, but the other one doesn't do anything.

Oh, and the other kicker is... We have had yet another linksys router hooked up to our cable modem for at least 3 years now. They both have existed on the same network all this time without a hitch. Of course, that one only supplies the 20ish computers internet access, and doesn't act as a server at all.

192.168.2.1 is cable modem router 255.255.255.0
192.168.7.1 is OLD T1 router (not used anymore) was 255.255.255.0
192.168.10.1 is first NEW T1 router tried same subnet, now it is 255.255.255.192
192.168.11.1 is second NEW T1 router tried same subnet, now 255.255.255.248

Am I just trying the impossible? It seemed like such an easy solution... ISP router plugs into small switch, switch plugs into BOTH Linksys routers WAN ports, linksys routers plug into main switch, main switch (thru fiber) connects eventually to both servers.

Is there something else I'm overlooking? does the NAT translation somehow throw fits when working side by side?

Please, someone tell me I'm not insane... scratch that, please someone tell me I'm overlooking something REALLLLLLY easy so I can be done with this nightmare...

Steenky(gonnakillmesomecomputerstonight)Bastage

You are at the stage where a normal cable/dsl router will no longer serve your network correctly.

To solve your problem, the most likely issue is that the new router (that has traffic coming into the second server) is not used by the second server for outgoing traffic. From a client perspective, it's like asking "Ted" for something and having "George" reply to you.. the reply would just be ignored. You need to change the gateway on any servers using the new router to use the new router for outgoing traffic.

The next step for your network is to get a router that has real Network Address Translation (NAT) support (this is different from Port Address Translation (PAT) that comes on all cable/dsl routers). NAT will allocate one external IP address to one internal IP address, and any device capable of that will be able to handle several IP addresses (instead of one device per IP).

It sounds like you have a grasp of networking, but some of the technical bits are catching you. The further you dive into a network having 3 gateways, the harder it will get. I would recommend going out and contracting a local "rent an IT dept" guy to examine your network and give you some options for reconfiguring it. I know a few around here, they may seem a little expensive ($75/hr CDN), but they're well worth it. Alternatively, you could try taking a networking course, Cisco offers quite a few that are good.