Here is my situation…
I have an engineering firm which has twelve workstations. For business reasons they are splitting the office into two networks using their own IP range (192…and 10…). My question is regarding the printers/plotters they need to share between these two networks.
What would be the best way, if any, to share the printers/plotters??
Regards
That would depend on how the printers are configured now. If they are off of a work station then it (the workstation) would need access to both networks( a second NIC card) to allow both networks to access it. If it is working off an internal network port and has a USB port available then connect a workstation on the other network and share the printer through the workstation.
Thanks for the reply rch1231.
The printers/plotters are in the same room where both servers (IP's 192... and 10...)are. I am sure the printers have USB but the plotter does not.
So from what you wrote, then I would need to install another computer with two NIC's and from there I could share the printers to both networks, correct?
Regards!
You could simply put a second nic in the servers.
Both servers have two NIC's all ready. Could you explain the connection setup of the printers to the servers??
If I understand correctly you currently have the printers connected to servers in one room and the servers are on both networks (the reason for the current two nic configuration) and the printers are shared on the servers. If that is the case you should be done. The printer sharing is based on you being able to connect to the server/system the printer is connected to.
The big trick on the NIC cards is only assigning one gateway to one of the cards and leaving the gateway empty on the other card. Otherwise you get confused routing determining which card to get to the WAN via.
IF that is not enough then describe the current setup and I will be happy to make suggestions based on it.
That is the setup with just a minor detail, the printers / plotters are connected directly to the switch but that is no problem. I would just connect them to one of the servers and share.
That is the setup with just a minor detail, the printers / plotters are connected directly to the switch but that is no problem. I would just connect them to one of the servers and share.
As far as sharing the internet to both IP's what would be my options?
Thanks!
The servers will handle the separate networks as long as only one NIC on each system has a gateway assigned. For example to get Server A to access on the 192.168 network and B to access the internet on the 10.10 network you could use:
Server A
NIC1
IP 192.168.1.150
NM 255.255.255.0
GW 192.168.1.1
NIC2
IP 10.10.1.150
NM 255.255.255.0
GW
Server B
NIC1
IP 10.10.1.151
NM 255.255.255.0
GW 10.10.1.1
NIC2
IP 192.168.1.151
NM 255.255.255.0
GW
Does that make sense?
I see that only one network has the gateway number to access the internet. I assume that is to avoid conflicts?
You got it.
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