Subnet Comms

[jrdebug]

1. what is the best way for me to make two servers on different subnets communicate with each other?
2. can i join a server into a domain even if the said server is on a different subnet?
3. i have set up a server to act as a gateway. pc's cannot "reach" the other side of the subnet unless i assign them static ip's. is this always true or is there a workaround?

thanks in advance! Jeffrey Rebong
Computer Engineer/Network Administrator
jrdebug@yahoo.com

 

[Jpoandl]

I'm not too sure about your configuration. If sounds like you have a small environment where there are two segments (subnets).

In one segment, you have at least one server and maybe some client machines. In the other segment, you have at least one server and a few more workstations. Each segment works fine locally. The trouble is that you can't get the two segments to communicate properly.

You can always buy a router to join to two networks together.

Beyond that, you could simply change your IP address so that all computers are on the same subnet.

Or you could place two network cards in your servers. You would then have to configure the servers as gateways. It sounds to me like you've already got yourself in this configuration. But it's not quite working the way you would expect... Please verify that you client machines local TCP/IP setting are pointing to the server's IP address as the gateway...otherwise the won't know how to get to the other side of the network.

Hope some of this helps... Joseph L. Poandl
MCSE 2000

 

[jrdebug]

i've got quite a number of clients in my network, with a couple of servers. previously we were advised to set up a proxy server to get our internet connection from another LAN. we finished the job successfully then. just recently, this provider of ours on the other side of the LAN were given the task to host and administer our internet mail. with this, we provided them with a server for ms exchange 2000 server. the problem is, we cannot ping beyond the proxy server, which is acting as our gateway, to the other segment.

my LAN setup:

win 2K domain with DHCP
proxy server as gateway (stand-alone for political reasons, pls do not ask me why)

do i need to enable IP forwarding on the proxy? or are there other things i need to configure?
Jeffrey Rebong
Computer Engineer/Network Administrator
jrdebug@yahoo.com

 

[Jpoandl]

". i have set up a server to act as a gateway. pc's cannot "reach" the other side of the subnet unless i assign them static ip's. is this always true or is there a workaround?"

It sounds like from this comment that if you assign static IP address everything works fine. Is there a problem with assigning static IP's? If not, what is happening when the client recieve DHCP addresses? Is there a diffence in settings?

Is the problem that the remote client machines aren't getting IP addresses from the DHCP server? If this is the case, you might want to consider running the DHCP agent on the proxy server. This way when clients request an IP the DHCP relay agent can forward the request to the DHCP server.

Joseph L. Poandl
MCSE 2000

 

[jrdebug]

Joseph, i have more than 200 clients. it is more convenient for me to use DHCP. and the DHCP server is supposed to support only the internal network (segment). we do not want to affect the network operations/services of the external LAN. the real problem is, i want to be able to PING any client on the other side (external LAN). isn't this suppose to happen once you set up a gateway? and if there would be a need to access any resource on the external LAN, the gateway should take care of it as well, right?

isn't this true or similar to being able to ping web sites once you are logged on to the net? you have your own native IP (internal LAN) and you can still ping the site you are connected to (internet)? can anyone clarify this please...

Jeffrey Rebong
Computer Engineer/Network Administrator
jrdebug@yahoo.com