networking 2 routers

[aaa12345]

Hi...is there some way to network 2 dsl routers into a same network so the comps on the 2 routers can share files...and if possible share 2 internet connection?

[VHockey86]

well... they make routers with 2 WAN ports .... but all of those that I've seen are really expensive

Also I know u can connect 2 routers together with a crossover cable (or an uplink port), but im not sure if the connections actualy get "shared' this way, however you could definately share files and printers etc between the two routers

[VHockey86]

Heres a couple routers with multiple WAN ports... quite expensive

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduc...2&searchdepa=1

http://www.critechsystems.com/sc/detail.aspx?ID=41

[aaa12345]

yea...my main point is to connect the 2 router so the files get shared...so...i just plug a cossover cable in one of the port that's not uplink?

[John Prophet]

I think if you just hook the two "switch" parts of the routers together with a x-over cable you basically turn them into one switch with all the comps "seeing" each other

(by switch parts I just mean any of the 4 ports on a normal home type router)

[VHockey86]

Well, if it had an uplink port then use it (with a patch/straight through cable). Otherwise if you dont have the uplink port, then you can simply use a crossover cable.

What router do you have specificially?
On my linksys befw11s4 when using the uplink port, the 4th port is disabled and vise versa.

Anoter thing you will need to do is for the router on the "inside" of the network (the one that is plugged into the uplink or port of the other router) will probably have to be switched into into a router/switch mode rather than in a "gateway" mode. Probably will want to disable dhcp on the 2nd router as well. This way it will act just like an extension of the other router (kinda like if the one router had 8 ports instead of 4).

[pickel]

Just connect one port on the router to a switch and connect the other computers to it. Should be able to connect at least six computers that way to share files , etc.

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=69

[aaa12345]

well...basically...i got 2 routers and each wit its own uplink port but i don't want to use uplink port to connect because i want to connect em to 2 separate dsl line...that's if i can't "combine" the 2 dsl line

[Siliconjunkie]

There are 2 pitfalls to this.

1)2 DHCP servers on the network. Make sure that one is disabled.
2)Duplicate IPs. Make sure the 2 routers have different IP addresses.

There is no consumer friendly way to bond 2 bandwidth sources. So, basically unless you set everything up with static IPs and such they will all go thru one router.

[jmichna]

That's a good question, and I'm also running out of router ports...

What if you used a router and a simple, dumb hub (very cheap today). For example, I have an aDSL modem, connect to uplink port on router. Have four LAN ports. Use two ports to connect to two PCs, one port to print server, and last LAN port to hub's uplink port. The hub has four downlink ports.

Can I then connect four PCs to these ports, and have the router detect and assign each of these hub-connected PCs an IP address via DHCP? If not, how about turning off DHCP and assigning static IP addresses to all the devices downstream from the router?

It may just be less of a hassle to get an 8-port router... they cost about the same as a 4-port cost a year a go.