Physical ethernet switch

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shawn Fessenden
  • Start date Start date
S

Shawn Fessenden

I'm looking for a piece of hardware - a physical Ethernet switch.

Situation: I have two WANs. The primary is cable and the backup is ADSL. My
router has one WAN port. I want a piece of hardware that will switch between
the cable and ADSL modems. Feel free to advise me to use a standard switch &
control power to the two modems :-)

Er, in which case I'm looking for a serial, parallel, USB or Ethernet 120V
power switch. I don't think I want to get into BSR X10 or similar.
 
I'm looking for a piece of hardware - a physical Ethernet switch.

Situation: I have two WANs. The primary is cable and the backup is ADSL. My
router has one WAN port. I want a piece of hardware that will switch between
the cable and ADSL modems. Feel free to advise me to use a standard switch &
control power to the two modems :-)

Er, in which case I'm looking for a serial, parallel, USB or Ethernet 120V
power switch. I don't think I want to get into BSR X10 or similar.
Click to expand...


I don't suppose outtages are often occurrences, what's the objection
of a mechanical switch? Double-Throw, eight-poles.
 
I don't suppose outtages are often
occurrences, what's the objection
of a mechanical switch? Double-
Throw, eight-poles.
Click to expand...

Bobb, outtages are a common occurance with Comcast. I've had three just in
the last few hours. I don't want to go there!

The basic objection is that this needs to be automatic. I can write the
detection software but I need to have the switch under computer control.
 
Bobb, outtages are a common occurance with Comcast. I've had three just in
the last few hours. I don't want to go there!

The basic objection is that this needs to be automatic. I can write the
detection software but I need to have the switch under computer control.
Click to expand...


Jikes! I'd dump that ISP before going into all that trouble.

BUT, that's not what u asked for. I'd be curious if anybody got ANY
input. I certainly am no help.
 
Well, there's a lot to assume here, but here are my assumptions based on
your question:

1) Both routers are on-line simultaneously
2) Both routers have LAN IP addresses on the same network.
3) You have a single NIC.

You could try doing this in software using the route add command and
specifying a small metric for your preferred route and a higher one for your
backup. For instance, let's say your cable router is 192.168.0.1 and your
DSL router is 192.168.0.2:

route delete 0.0.0.0 (Delete the current default route)
route add 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.0.1 metric 1
route add 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.0.2 metric 20

I dislike multiple default routes, but this might work for you (and you
won't have to buy anything). You can test on a single computer, and if it
works assign in a logon or startup script.
 
Jikes! I'd dump that ISP before going into all that trouble.

The only reason I don't is because it's *blazingly* fast when it works.
Nothing else comes even remotely close. Naturally when it doesn't work it's
not worth a plugged nickel though.
BUT, that's not what u asked for. I'd be curious if anybody got ANY
input. I certainly am no help.
Click to expand...

I'm suprised there isn't a solution available (apparently - I've been
looking for a while). If I find something I'll be sure to pass the info
along.
 
Bobb, outtages are a common occurance with Comcast. I've had three just in
the last few hours. I don't want to go there!

The basic objection is that this needs to be automatic. I can write the
detection software but I need to have the switch under computer control.
Click to expand...


With outages that common I'd look to problems with my own equipment
first. What is your symptom? Have you done any dignostics to find out
where the problem is?

Do neighbors that use the same kind of connection have similar
problems ?

Have you checked on the chat groups on the Comcast news server to
complain and see if other have similar problems ? I know that my in
the chat groups for my ISP, Verizon, users complained mightly when
there was a chronic DNS problem, Verizon responded and fixed it.

Try the XP "pathping" utility to see where the problem is.

If you pop a second ethernet card in your PC and connect it to the
second broadband modem you should be able to just power one BB device
down and power up the other. The link up signal should be enough to
make XP switch cards. This was you just need to wire up a 2 way switch
(A-neutral-B) to control the low voltage power to both broadband
modems. If they are identical, or at least use similar voltage inputs
you'll only need one wall wart. Good Luck. A real rats nest.

I'd fix the problem, instead.

I sympathize about dealing with an ISP. Start making a constructive
pain of yourself. Be polite. Contact the Chairman's office. IME that
puts a flag in your customer rcord so when you call up for service
they know you might complain again. If they ask if you'd like to take
a servey at the end of the call, say "yes". I think this improves
your chances of a good resolution when you talk to a service rep.
 
I'm suprised there isn't a solution available (apparently - I've been
looking for a while). If I find something I'll be sure to pass the info
along.
Click to expand...


Nobody has anything, I am guessing, 'cuz what good is a Ferrari is
one's breaking down between every town?

If u have the problem, your neighbourds have got the same problem. I
dunno what's your situation, but OK, I may not dump them, but if I
like the product so much, then I spend some quality time
troubleshooting with the "cable guys."

My experience with comcast is, they have good engineers, is the
bureaucratic maze that u have to win through (so what's new).
 
Tried to post a reply earlier but it doesn't show up, so if this is a
duplicate I apologize.

I think you can do what you want by just setting two default gateways, one
with a lower cost than the other. Let's say your computer is 192.168.0.100,
your cable router is 0.1 and your DSL is 0.2. The following command lines
should do what you want:

route delete 0.0.0.0
route add 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.0.1 metric 1
route add 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.0.2 metric 30

Then do a route print to see what you got. Try pulling the plug on the cable
modem and see what happens. If this works, you can assign the routes in a
batch file (logon script) and add the persistent (-p) switch so the routes
won't disappear on you. (route add -p blah blah blah...). I'm not sure if
this will work if the local gateway is available, even if it can't get to
its next hop, but I think it will.

....kurt
 
3) You have a single NIC.
Click to expand...


Only the OP will tell, but that seems like ALOT of work for a single
PC (what OP proposes).

I have a brilliant idea.

Power off Router not-in-use and power on router-in-use.

Routers will be DHCP servers, when they are power on, they will
refresh the clients addresses including the new default gateway. For
simplicity, yes, I would do this with X10, but that's not what the OP
poster wants.

Frankly if I HAD to do this, I'd buy an honest-to-God Cisco router,
the usd$2000 variety with 2 WAN ports and have it switch automatically
without intervention. That would be the "elegant" money-no-object way
of doing it. In fact such router will be able to use both connections
at the same time, potentially doubling throughput.
 
Back
Top