Connect multiple networks to eachother

[CoinDuckling369]

Dear LTT-Community,

 

Next to my house we are building an office.

Inside this office we will get glass fiber internet. In our house we have cable internet.

Is there a way to connect these networks to eachother so we can for example access all the printers and network storage from the office in the house?

 

Thanks,

 

Kind Regards,

Sven

[crotach]

Yes, the device is called a router, or in it's simplest form you need a bridge. A standard PC with two network cards can also act as a bridge.

 

A more appropriate question would be are you allowed to do such a thing. I don't know of a single network administrator that would be happy to find someone has connected their home network to the office.

[Windows7ge]

As crotach stated this would make you appear as if you were inside the office. I believe it can also be referred to as a Tunnel.

 

For access to storage though using SSH/SFTP I think would be simpler & more secure. Printers, I can't say. I've seen offices have their printers setup in such a way they're able to print from off site but I don't know how that's accomplished exactly.

[Chunchunmaru_]

I can think of a VPN... Check if both your routers support it, you can choose IPSec or OpenVPN 

[Lurick]

1 hour ago, crotach said:

Yes, the device is called a router, or in it's simplest form you need a bridge. A standard PC with two network cards can also act as a bridge.

 

A more appropriate question would be are you allowed to do such a thing. I don't know of a single network administrator that would be happy to find someone has connected their home network to the office.

I'm reading it completely different. It sounds like OP is building an extension to their home and they want to connect the two segments of the network.

[CoinDuckling369]

1 hour ago, crotach said:

Yes, the device is called a router, or in it's simplest form you need a bridge. A standard PC with two network cards can also act as a bridge.

 

A more appropriate question would be are you allowed to do such a thing. I don't know of a single network administrator that would be happy to find someone has connected their home network to the office.

It is our own office with only a few staff members so it is not a huge office building but for security it is not smart to do it this way if I understand it right?

1 hour ago, Windows7ge said:

As crotach stated this would make you appear as if you were inside the office. I believe it can also be referred to as a Tunnel.

 

For access to storage though using SSH/SFTP I think would be simpler & more secure. Printers, I can't say. I've seen offices have their printers setup in such a way they're able to print from off site but I don't know how that's accomplished exactly.

We were actually thinking about SFTP for file access from anywhere, I will look into the printer thing further.

8 minutes ago, Chunchunmaru_ said:

I can think of a VPN... Check if both your routers support it, you can choose IPSec or OpenVPN 

The current cable connection supports IPSec, I don't know about the glass fiber yet because we don't have it yet. But this can be an option maybe. If I understand you right you connect the network virtually to the other one so that you are virtually inside the office network?

[CoinDuckling369]

4 minutes ago, Lurick said:

I'm reading it completely different. It sounds like OP is building an extension to their home and they want to connect the two segments of the network.

Indeed. That is the case

[Donut417]

5 hours ago, CoinDuckling369 said:

Next to my house we are building an office.

Inside this office we will get glass fiber internet. In our house we have cable internet.

Is there a way to connect these networks to eachother so we can for example access all the printers and network storage from the office in the house?

Multiple Ways:

 

1) VPN: You do a site to site VPN. This is probably one of the easier options I would have to say. Not sure on setup. The only disadvantage here would be the cable connection, as the upload is probably abysmal, which means if your at the office trying to get data from your home network, it will probably take forever if its a large chunk of data. 

2) Fiber: Depending on codes and stuff you could potentially run a Fiber connection from one network to the other. This is really only required if you need the speeds or need to go over 100 Meters. 

3) Ethernet: Same as above, but if you need a distance of 100 meters than a signal repeater is needed. Also, running Ethernet outdoors requires you to ground it. Which is why Fiber in some cases is better, it cant carry electricity. 

4) Site to Site Wireless: Ubiquti has a few solutions for this, you run two transmitters, one on each building that are pointed at each other. Speeds might not be as good as wired, but it should be easy to install for the most part. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

If the networks can physically be connected it does sound like a router/firewall is perhaps the way to do.  That way you could restrict traffic between the networks to the printers only.

 

A VPN is redundant here if the networks can already be physically linked, a VPN is merely a method to create a secure link between two networks over an insecure one - irrelevant if you are connecting two physical networks directly.

One possible exception is that if you only want to allow certain people access then a VPN might be a good way to enforce that, by having a VPN server between the office network and the home network.