A happy workgroup including different networks

[amiak]

Here is the setup:

A computer running Windows Server 2003 is in the middle with two NIC's. One interface is 192.168.1.1, the other interface is 192.168.2.1. Both have default subnet masks.

The server sees all the computers.

However, computers on the 192.168.1.0 network can only see each other. And computers on the 192.168.2.0 network can only see each other.

What do I need to do in order to have one big workgroup that includes computers on different networks?

 

[rvnguy]

Well, unless you have 1,000's of users or another reason to have these 2 groups on their own, I would convert all to access via one IP.

If you have a 'large' number of users, there are load balancing schemes and it is best to use an application for this. See the schemes here.

Load Balancing NIC's

http://ntrg.cs.tcd.ie/undergrad/4ba2.01/group8/network_bottleneck.html

re think the reasons you have 2 IP's and post back with particulars

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[xwb]

Change the subnet mask to 255.255.252.0 on all machines or if you are not setting them individually, set it on the DHCP server.

Note it is not a typo: the third figure is 252 i.e. 11111100. You want it to ignore 1 and 2 so the two last bits should be 0.

 

[edfair]

Suspicion that the issue is going to be bridging in the server. You have 2 networks because of the 2 NICs.
If you had one NIC that responded to 1.x and 2.x you would have access. But that creates other problems.
Possibly a switch connecting the 2 NICs then connecting the 2 networks and changing the subnet masks on all machines that need both networks will resolve it.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[smah]

All of the above is correct, but I'm with rvnguy - Why are these two networks separated? There are legitimate reasons for doing so, but the basis of your question seems to indicate that that isn't what you want. When windows server is installed into a machine that has 2 NIC's it often makes some assumptions that aren't neccessarily true. This is my guess at how you got to the conditions that you're trying to change.

 

[edfair]

My suspicion is that it is a bandwidth thing. I would say that I'm reading between the lines but it is really guessing between the lines.


Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[amiak]

Thanks for the advice.

I apologize for not really describing the scenario very well.

To simplify things, there are three computers and one workgroup.


192.168.1.0 192.168.2.0
ComputerA------------ServerB--------------ComputerC

They are all in the WORKGROUP workgroup.

The computer in the middle has two NIC's.

ComputerA sees AB
ServerB sees ABC
ComputerC sees BC

The key question is why are the two networks separated?

I wanted to know if there is a way to forward the necessary traffic in order for all three to be in the same workgroup.

The obvious answer is to get a layer2 device and put them all on the same network. "workgroups" are supposed to be simple.


But can all three be in the same workgroup without changing the cabling?

 

[smah]

If you really must do this without changing cabling, I see 2 possibilities:

1. Assuming the Server2003 machine is also the DHCP server, reconfigure both NIC's with different addresses on the same subnet & make sure that the DHCP function is only giving out 1 subnet.

2. Create some static routing between the 2 seperate networks.


Based on the info in this thread, I'd suggest option 1.

 

[chipk]

Most of these options sound like they would work, but the crux of your problem is broadcast traffic across discontiguous networks - it doesn't happen unless you tell it to.

Configure Routing and Remote Access, allow the server to act as a router, if you haven't already, and then allow broadcast traffic on ports 137, 138, 139. This will fix all your problems. The reason you can't see hosts in the other segment is because NetBIOS and browsing is all about broadcast and broadcasts are not forwarded across discontiguous networks.

The other option would be to set up your server as a WINS server, and configure your DHCP scopes to point to it. Browse lists from the discontiguous networks would then be redistributed from the WINS server to the Segment Master Browsers, but with two nics that gets tricky.