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Sharing two print devices across two networks...!? HOW TO?

By morales2k ·
Here is the current issue. My small office is located inside the premises of a larger company that shares its network with us. Lately, they have gone virus-paranoid and installed all sorts of load balancers/limiters, and software firewall/net blockers, etc. that have greatly limited the internet access that we need to work properly.

So we are going to separate our office from their network. However... There is a plotter and a printer that they need, and we need as well. Is it possible to share those two devices with both networks at the same time while keeping both networks unable to "see" each other? The MIS on the large company doesn't want "our viruses" to crawl on their network (apparently he is using us as an excuse for his incompetence in securing their network... ? I'd blame old hardware or something else, but his excuse will be up once we split this thing apart).

Anyways, how should I go about this!?

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out of luck unless you allow remote access

by CG IT In reply to Sharing two print devices ...

once your on your own network [subnet], then you have to allow remote access for them to use printers located on their network.

probably be cheaper if they simply buy the printers they need.

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i don't think it would be cheaper...

by morales2k In reply to out of luck unless you al ...

We are talking about a xerox plotter worth around 3 thousand, and an old HP laser color printer 5500c series... so i think they will buy the routers ... whatever amount needed...

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DMZ

by Churdoo In reply to Sharing two print devices ...

Maybe you/they can set up a DMZ between the 2 networks for these shared resources, i.e. a third network that can route to each of the company networks but the 2 company networks cannot route to each other.

Whether this is practical or not depends on how the plotter and printer are connected and served. Depending on what you have for gear, CG could be right about the cost.

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Router

by ctmoore1998 In reply to Sharing two print devices ...

You will need a router. Put the devices that you want to 'share' in their own network space and use router acl to allow users from both networks to access the 'shared' network.

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is there a step by step guide somewhere?

by morales2k In reply to Router

I think I will need a moron-proof kind of guide for this... for instance, what is router acl?

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Hire someone

by Churdoo In reply to is there a step by step g ...

If that's the case, you really should consult with someone local to you.

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What about...

by morales2k In reply to Sharing two print devices ...

this (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3860663&CatId=584) router that has two wan ports... could the company networks go in there and the devices in the other numbered ports?

Both printers access the network via ethernet cables, currently they have their unique static IP.

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geez Tiger Direct? wouldn't buy from them...

by CG IT In reply to What about...

Anyways...If they[who you are renting space from] don't want you on their network, there is an alternative and that is the use of a managed switch that supports VLans. you can seperate out hosts on a single network into seperate Vlans. Only those hosts on the same vlan can talk to each other. You can then specify via an ACL, [Access Control List]that specific hosts on 1 vlan can talk to specific hosts on another vlan through the router that supports intervlan routing.

But this requires some administrative efforts and someone who knows this type of inter-networking. Not cheap and the equipment isn't cheap [unless you go the used route].

The other option is to allow remote access. Most consumer level routers allow remote access via SSL. The only draw back is the limit of 5 concurrent sessions, and that you have to create a list of users who are granted remote access.

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