From Inside to Outside World 1

[Watts]

I have a doozy of a question here. I am currently working on a LAN which is connected to the outside world via a proxy server.

In the future I will getting two DSL lines with static IP addresses. Let's say I want to connect 5 units which all act as servers onto the two lines and have them all be accessed from the outside world. How do I do this? Can I get one main server unit that uses a hub to access the other 5? What software will I need? I have been looking at Windows NT Server 4.0. Can I even get access to 5 units on only 2 outside lines.

 

[Bugermass]

The anser to this question depends on what kind of outside access your talking about. I need to know what services you want to provide to the outside world, depending on that there are several solutions to your problem. I'll keep an eye out for your post... (Bugermass....)

 

[Watts]

I only have one assigned IP address and I need access to many different servers. Let me describe them as embedded web servers doing different things. I have one static IP address connected through a DSL service.

Can this configuration be accomplished?

Client -> DSL Line -> Master Server -> Hub -> Embedded Servers

The main part of configuration would be the Master Server which would distinguish because Client web requests and get the data from the other units and send it out. I need to know if this is possible and if so what software do I need to do it. This would greatly reduce the cost of setting up multiple IP addresses for multiple units.

 

[GunJack]

The real problem is that the outside world can only see your one IP address. There is no way for a client to request data from different machines if you have only one IP address. One exception is to use different ports to represent the different machines. You could set the master server up as a proxy server and have it send requests to 10.10.10.1:5000 to server A, requests to 10.10.10.1:6000 to server B, etc.. but this really isn't a method I'd recommend. There's no problem with the multiple servers on the inside getting out, it's just that clients on the outside only see one IP so the Master server has no way to identify which server to send requests to.

IMO, spend the extra money and get static IPs for any machine that a client needs to directly connect to. Other than the IP issue, you just need a hub or switch and you can set them up as you described.

Good luck,
GJ