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Create tunnel/bridge between 2 routers behind a switch?

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by ctcbarney 1 view

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Some quick preliminary info:

Router 1: Linksys WRT54G
LAN 1: 192.168.x.x
WAN 1: Dynamically assigned by Comcast
Router 2: Linksys BEFSR41
Lan 2: 192.168.y.y
WAN 2: Dynamically assigned by Comcast
Switch: Linksys EZXS55W
ISP: Comcast
ISP Dynamically Assigned IP Addresses: 2

One network is used as my wife's work network while the other is our home LAN. I elected to separate the two networks in case our "angelic" teenager inadvertently downloaded something he shouldn't which would adversely impact my wife's work machine. The two routers are connected to our cable modem via a switch.

My question is, is there a way to bridge or create a VPN tunnel between these two routers? It would be nice to be able to share printers, etc. without having to expose our networks via NAT.

I have searched for hours on Google and simply could not find anything specific to my particular situation. Any help or references would be greatly appreciated.

13 replies

by Former member

Make a printer share on your wife's computer (or vice versa) and then go into (from your computer) your wife's computer and then click on the printer in question this will auto connect and the drivers of the printer will automatically follow. Then you should see the printer in your printer section. Go into the "set up office network" make sure that each computer has the same network name like "WORKGRUOP" or what what ever takes your fancy. You have children then you need this:
http://www.netnanny.com/
This will keep you safe on both your computers. Also this will be of interest to you:
http://www.salfeld.com/software/parentalcontrol/index.html

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

by ctcbarney

First of all, thank you so much for your reply. I thought I had included all the pertinent information but now, I can see that I did not.

My wife's computer belongs to her company's domain and the printer is "local". The home LAN is setup as a workgroup so I would not be able to share a printer with such a simple scenario.

I know I can set up the routers to allow me printing via WAN. However, if I can help it anyway, I don't want to open up ports which would allow unnecessary exposure to our networks. There has to be a way to establish a VPN connection or such between the two routers which would allow me (and only my computer) to print to her "local" printer.

Again thank you for your help!

by Former member

And yes it is that simple. You will not have exposure to the outside, this is internal NOT external. As long as the printer in question is at "your" home and not at her works (of which you will need an ip address of the server and printer) you are ok.
But if you need alternatives then you can try these:
http://www.brooksnet.com/google-sharedprinting?103bees=cpx&gclid=CLOO6Jb7rZMCFQgLuwodVyRmaw
http://www.networkmagic.com/soho/

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

by churdoo

... router to router VPN, and I don't think the WRT54G with the OEM code does either.

If both routers gain proper WAN connections (I've never tried putting multiple routers behind a cable modem, interesting), which evidently they do, then each would be treated as a separate WAN connection; it should make no difference that they're both in the same house. So if you used routers that do support router-router VPN, then you could easity set up a VPN tunnel to do what you're asking.

Depending on the version of the WRT54G router you're using, you may be able to upgrade its code with DD-WRT (http://www.dd-wrt.com) and add the VPN server functionality to it without replacing the router.

On wifey's side, although you could run a VPN client on her lappy to connect to the VPN server on the home side, I wouldn't advise this for fear of affecting her work functionality. So you'd really have to replace that BEFSR41 on her side with something compatible with whatever you end up with on the home side so you can do router-router VPN -- perhaps another WRT54G with the DD-WRT firmware and the WAP turned off.

by ctcbarney

Thank you for confirming what I had feared...the BEFSR41 wasn't going to be functional in this scenario. I had browsed the DD-WRT site so I'm aware of what you are referring to there...

Thanks to both posters...I think I'll head out and grab another WRT54G router and play with DD-WRT.

Thanks again!

by cg it

need clarification.

Do you have 1 cable modem that provides 2 internet accesses? or do you have 2 cable modems?

by ctcbarney

Our network is set up like this...

Cable Modem
|
Switch
| |
R1 R2

Comcast provides (at an additional fee, by the way) multiple IP addresses for single accounts.

by cg it

so for clarity, the example addressing is:

public address 68.10.5.1 goes to R1 and 60.10.5.2 goes to R2 where R2 is your wife's internet connection.

you want to access the printer behind R2 without compromising R2 and R1 security?

Internet printing would be the way to go using IPP protocol.

Here's a MS article for IPP with Windows XP SP2.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457170.aspx

Added: you can install IIS on Windows XP SP2 here's a link for that as well.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457169.aspx

by ctcbarney

Thank you for the information. I'll look forward to reviewing it to see if I can get it to work.

Thanks everyone!

by cg it

If you go the route of internet printing on IIS, require login. More secure to put in a user name & password.

by ctcbarney

Thank you again for your replies.

I am going to go ahead and attempt a VPN tunnel between two WRT54G routers using dd-wrt firmware. In case anyone is at all interested, I'll post back later this week and let y'all know how it worked.

by ctcbarney

Alright, for those of you keeping track at home....I hate when people post questions then don't post a final resolution. Here's what I did.

I purchased an additional Linksys WRT54G router and flashed both of my WRT54G's with DD-WRT firmware (work router w/v24RC7micro and home w/v24finalVPN). I enabled the PPTP server in my home router (and appropriate user/pass). I then setup a VPN server on one of the home machines to allow printer sharing, etc.

On a laptop connected to the wife's work router, I created a network connection to create a tunnel to the PPTP server on the home router, along with a VPN connection through the tunnel to the VPN server running on the home network. I was then able to share printers and files both ways through the tunnel. No NAT, no firewall config...it's a beautiful thing.

All computers in this network are running some flavor of XP and I suspect Vista should work similarly.

Because of the version of the new WRT54G I purchased (v8.2), I was unable to put a VPN firmware solution on the work router. Instead, I was limited to the "micro" version due to memory capabilities associated with these newer routers. I would have liked to have established a continuous tunnel between the two routers using DDNS, but alas, my hardware just wasn't going to allow that.

Again, thank you for all of the replies...I wouldn't have discovered this solution without some of the comments.

B Youree

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