Can XP bridge 2 private networks?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim S. Greathouse
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim S. Greathouse

Hi,

We have an XP box that is connected to 2 seperate private networks
(each has a 48 port switch) -- the first is using 10.20.30.xx
addresses while the second is using 192.168.100.xx addresses.

I would like to bridge these connections so that machines on the
192.168.100.xx network can see the 10.20.30.xx machines.

Bridging the two connections by selecting both networks and then
telling XP to bridge breaks both networks. The XP box cannot
communicate with any address in the 10.20.30.xx or 192.168.100.xx
space. Reverting to an earlier restore point restores the
connectivity.

Can XP bridging be used to connect these two private networks?

Thanks,

Jim
 
No
Bridging combines 2 network adapters so that they both appear to have the
same ip address. Makes your pc work a bit like a hub.
Breaking the bridge gives each adapter it's own ip so that your pc can then
belong to 2 different subnets.
U may be able to use routing but I don't have the exp. to tell u how.
 
Jim said:
Hi,

We have an XP box that is connected to 2 seperate private networks
(each has a 48 port switch) -- the first is using 10.20.30.xx
addresses while the second is using 192.168.100.xx addresses.

I would like to bridge these connections so that machines on the
192.168.100.xx network can see the 10.20.30.xx machines.

Bridging the two connections by selecting both networks and then
telling XP to bridge breaks both networks. The XP box cannot
communicate with any address in the 10.20.30.xx or 192.168.100.xx
space. Reverting to an earlier restore point restores the
connectivity.

Can XP bridging be used to connect these two private networks?
Click to expand...

Not sure - but if I were you I'd just get a router; they're cheap enough
these days.
 
Jim S. Greathouse said:
Hi,

We have an XP box that is connected to 2 seperate private networks
(each has a 48 port switch) -- the first is using 10.20.30.xx
addresses while the second is using 192.168.100.xx addresses.

I would like to bridge these connections so that machines on the
192.168.100.xx network can see the 10.20.30.xx machines.

Bridging the two connections by selecting both networks and then
telling XP to bridge breaks both networks. The XP box cannot
communicate with any address in the 10.20.30.xx or 192.168.100.xx
space. Reverting to an earlier restore point restores the
connectivity.

Can XP bridging be used to connect these two private networks?

Thanks,

Jim
Click to expand...


Bridging is not what you need to join 2 different IP subnets.
You need a router.

To span 2 different subnets, you need to enable IP forwarding.
The XP box will need 2 LAN cards, one connected to each switch.
Give each NIC an IP address in the appropriate subnet.
( Let's say 192.168.100.254 and 10.20.30.254. )
Then enable IP forwarding between the interfaces:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315236

This turns the XP box into a router.
Now, all the machines need to be told about the router...

On all the machines on the 192.168.100 network, you need to
set up a static route which points to the 10.20.30 network via the XP
box at 192.168.100.254:

route -p add 10.20.30.0 mask 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.254

Do a route print, and check for the persistent route.

Then, on all the machines on the 10.20.30 network, you need to
set up a static route which points to the 192.168.100 network via the XP
box at 10.20.30.254:

route -p add 192.168.100.0 mask 255.255.255.0 10.20.30.254

Do a route print, and check for the persistent route.

You should now be able to ping by IP address between the subnets.

You will now need to fix up cross-subnet name resolution.
Assuming you don't have a WINS server or DNS servers,
then you will need to use static name resolution.
To enable NetBIOS name resolution between the machines, you will
need to create an LMHOSTS file.
To enable DNS resolution, you need to create a HOSTS file.

You should then be able to ping by name, and map drives by name.

You will not be able to browse across the subnets, since browsing relies
on NetBIOS broadcasts which don't cross the router.

To make cross-subnet browsing work, you need a Domain, which will set
up a Domain Master Browser which can collate the individual subnet
Segment Browse Lists, and concatenate them into a domain-wide browse list.

That is beyond the topic of this post :-)
 
We have an XP box that is connected to 2 seperate private networks
(each has a 48 port switch) -- the first is using 10.20.30.xx
addresses while the second is using 192.168.100.xx addresses.

I would like to bridge these connections so that machines on the
192.168.100.xx network can see the 10.20.30.xx machines.

Bridging the two connections by selecting both networks and then
telling XP to bridge breaks both networks. The XP box cannot
communicate with any address in the 10.20.30.xx or 192.168.100.xx
space. Reverting to an earlier restore point restores the
connectivity.

Can XP bridging be used to connect these two private networks?

Thanks,

Jim
Click to expand...

XP's network bridge can't do what you want. It combines multiple
physical networks into a single logical network with a single IP
subnet. Your two physical networks use different IP subnets

Even if it could, networks that require 48-port switches might be
large enough that a hardware solution, with a dedicated bridge,
router, or server computer, would be better.

Here are three different methods that could accomplish your purpose:

1. Use the same subnet on both networks and connect them using XP's
network bridge. All inter-network traffic would pass through that
single XP computer, which would have to have enough network capacity
to handle the traffic volume.

2. Use the same subnet on both networks and connect them using a
hardware bridge or by uplinking one switch to the other.

3. Connect both networks to a hardware router (to move traffic between
the two subnets), and run a WINS server (to allow computers in each
network to resolve computer names to IP addresses in the other
network). Running a WINS server would require a computer running a
server operating system, such as Windows Server 2003.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
 
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