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Win-2003 Server routing

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7 replies

by hutchinson

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Please excuse the duplicate posting (also in Win-2000 forum).

I have a small remote office (OK, it's really my home) with a small network of 2 PCs. This has been connected to the Internet using one Internet Connection (Cable-MODEM) via Win-XP Internet Connection Sharing.

We recently added a second Internet Connection (DSL) for redundancy, increased up-time and possibly increased throughput.

To handle the load-balancing, add a level of firewall protection, reduce the workload of the Win-XP PC and not require that PC to be on all the time, we added a Win-2K3 Server.

The problem is that the Win-2K3 Server behaves just like the Win-XP PC and won't share two Internet Connections with the Local Network.

How would you recommend I solve this dilemma?

7 replies

by rohan_r

hey.
i think the problem is that the server Accepts an ip address from the cable modem or the dsl line. so even if you have to conection you can't use them both at once. if one goes down the server should get its address from the other connection.
for your problem i would use the two different connection on the two pc's and network the pc's.
hope this helps

by hutchinson

Each MODEM (Cable & DSL) goes to its own NIC - and each NIC can have its own IP Address, each of which is obtained from the ISP using DHCP. Both are being obtained and both can be used from the Server itself.
The problem seems to be that Windows Server 2003 won't allow two NICs to both be Shared.

by pgm554

Well, you could set up 2 NICS in the W2K3 server and set them up for failover redundancy. If one link goes down the other one fails over.Most of the newer cards can do this.

You could set up static routes to each of the NICS.

Why are you using a $1000 buck piece of software (W2K3 server) to do what a cheap (Linksys or D-Link) router could do for $50 bucks?

You seem to be swatting flies with a cannon.

by hutchinson

I have 3 NICs in the Y2K3 Server. I see I neglected to provide that informtion in the original post.

Failover Redundancy is something I don't know how to setup. Please explain further.
My ISPs both use DHCP to issue Addresses, not Static IP, so Static Routes won't work.
D-Link & LinkSys Routers work well for a single ISP, but I haven't seen one yet which can handle multiple "Cable/DSL" connections. And I dont's really want to trust a firewall that comes with those. My DSL ISP even provided a fancy MODEM which has a "firewall" and will provide DHCP and a Wireless portal. But that only helps for one of my two ISPs.

I don't think it would be practical (even if I trusted them) to attach two of those to a single Hub and HOPE they don't compete to provide DHCP Addresses, etc. I could be wrong.

And I wanted a Server for other reasons anyway - to experiment with AD, to provide simple file & print services, etc.

I'm not swapping files with a cannon, just with my wife's PC. ;-)

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