How do I set up a network with multiple routers.

[Rabbit]

I only know a little bit about networking so...

I have 2 routers, 5 computers and a cable modem. I thought all I had to do was plug the cable modem into the WAN slot of one router. Connect a regular port on the router to the WAN slot of the other router. And plug in the computers into any of the free jacks. But that didn't work. Everyone on the same router could see each other but couldn't see the others. Still had internet access though.

So I went online and read this very confusing thing about using the uplink jack. But when I did that nothing worked. Then something else said I had to disable the DHCP on all but one of the routers and that didn't work either. Got the IP of Doom. So now I'm just thoroughly confused about how to set it up.

[bwestover]

Ok to do this you should only need 1 router.

A router is used to join different networks and 'route' between them. In your case Im going to assume you only want two networks 1)The internet and 2) your 5 local computers. You want the 5 computers to talk to each other, and you want all 5 to talk to the other network (the internet).

To connect the 5 computers together what you actually need is a switch with at least 5 ports for the computers and 1 port for 'Uplink'. Think of it like a star where the 5 machines all go to a central point, then one special connection goes from that star to your router. The router connects your local computer network to the internet network, which is hosted by your modem.

So it goes Internet-->Modem-->Router-->Switch-->5 computers.

Now where it gets confusing is lots of vendors include a switch in the router. This just means that you dont need a separate device as your router has multiple places to plug in computers. The model is the same though, its just done internally.

Hopefully that helps a little.

[Rabbit]

The thing is that I don't want to buy extra equipment; I'm a little strapped for money. But I do have two routers and each router has a WAN, an uplink, and 4 jacks for computers.

So what I did was:

[Cable Modem]-----| [Router]
                  |--->WAN       [Router]
                       Port1------->WAN

[bwestover]

And does that work, or are the computers on the second router still offline?

it seems like you shouldn't use the WAN port on the second router at all, but rather try and just utilize the switch portion.

Modem plugs in to WAN port on router1, 3 cpus plug in to switch ports on router 1, last switch port is plugged into switch port on router 2, final 2 cpus plug into switch ports on router 2.

What kind of routers are they? Is one of the 4 switch ports designated as uplink? If so, then thats the one to use to get to the other switch.

If you use the WAN port, your on the other side of the routing function and it will separate the two networks logically, rather than join them like you want.

[Rabbit]

And does that work, or are the computers on the second router still offline?

it seems like you shouldn't use the WAN port on the second router at all, but rather try and just utilize the switch portion.

Modem plugs in to WAN port on router1, 3 cpus plug in to switch ports on router 1, last switch port is plugged into switch port on router 2, final 2 cpus plug into switch ports on router 2.

What kind of routers are they? Is one of the 4 switch ports designated as uplink? If so, then thats the one to use to get to the other switch.

If you use the WAN port, your on the other side of the routing function and it will separate the two networks logically, rather than join them like you want.

It works insofar as I can get on the internet with all the computers but I can't see the other computers that aren't on the same router.

They are linksys routers. Each router has 6 ports: 1 WAN, 1 uplink, 4 switch. I'll try it out when I get home, I'm at work right now.

[sicarie]

Just out of curiosity, what types of routers are they?

[Rabbit]

Something like this, except mines has an uplink port as well.

[computerchick]

I just had to deal with this problem a couple of weeks ago so here is the first thing to check...

1) Is the MODEM also a router? If it is I would turn off the routing funtion in the modem. Set it up to JUST be the modem (by the way this is acommon problem)

2) Are the routers the same? Maybe one is wireless and one is hard wired? You can flip flop the routers just to try this both ways since there can be compatibility issues with providers and some routers SO with that, connect the more desireable "Gateway/ROUTER" to the modem and set it up as Router (with the provider logon info input into the router if required like most DSL PPoE nets). Also, set thias one for DHCP services.

3) Set up the second router to function as a SWITCH ONLY. There should be an option in the at least one of you routers to turn off gateway/routing functions. It is very important to turn OFF the DHCP services in the second router too.

Last couple of notes - make sure you assign a different hard IP the the router and the switch (same subnet) and of course, do choose numbers that are in the scope of the DHCP settings.

And, very last, make sure you cable it all correctly. Don't use the internet jack on the switch.

[Rabbit]

I just had to deal with this problem a couple of weeks ago so here is the first thing to check...

1) Is the MODEM also a router? If it is I would turn off the routing funtion in the modem. Set it up to JUST be the modem (by the way this is acommon problem)

2) Are the routers the same? Maybe one is wireless and one is hard wired? You can flip flop the routers just to try this both ways since there can be compatibility issues with providers and some routers SO with that, connect the more desireable "Gateway/ROUTER" to the modem and set it up as Router (with the provider logon info input into the router if required like most DSL PPoE nets). Also, set thias one for DHCP services.

3) Set up the second router to function as a SWITCH ONLY. There should be an option in the at least one of you routers to turn off gateway/routing functions. It is very important to turn OFF the DHCP services in the second router too.

Last couple of notes - make sure you assign a different hard IP the the router and the switch (same subnet) and of course, do choose numbers that are in the scope of the DHCP settings.

And, very last, make sure you cable it all correctly. Don't use the internet jack on the switch.

1) The modem is just a modem.

2) The routers are not the same but they are both hard wired.

3) I'll have to try this out.

I think this is part of my problem. I don't know how to cable it correctly. Meaning, how do I connect the first router to the second router.

[archonmagnus]

On one router, disable DHCP. Plug the DHCP-disabled router into the other router (which should still have DHCP on). Usually, this should be done with a crossover cable, but most router/switches have "intelligen t" ports that will work with a standard straight through cat-5 cable.

The port cabling is where your mileage may vary. Some SOHO routers will accept a crossover connection from the switch port on router 1 to the WAN port on router 2, while most will work with a crossover cable from a switch port on router 1 to a switch port on router 2. Are you using a crossover cable to join the two routers?

Here is a link to a more thorough tutorial:

http://www.archonmagnus.com/computing/networking/multiRouters.php

[Rabbit]

On one router, disable DHCP. Plug the DHCP-disabled router into the other router (which should still have DHCP on). Usually, this should be done with a crossover cable, but most router/switches have "intelligen t" ports that will work with a standard straight through cat-5 cable.

The port cabling is where your mileage may vary. Some SOHO routers will accept a crossover connection from the switch port on router 1 to the WAN port on router 2, while most will work with a crossover cable from a switch port on router 1 to a switch port on router 2. Are you using a crossover cable to join the two routers?

Here is a link to a more thorough tutorial:
http://www.archonmagnus.com/computin...ltiRouters.php

Thanks for that. I'll give it a shot when I get some time. One of the guys ended up buying a router with more ports but I still want to test this out. And no, I didn't connect it with a crossover cable.