Help with two networks, connect devices from one network to another.

[Antistatic12]

Hello LTT forums, hoping to get this sorted as it's doing my head in.
As seen in the crudely put together image below, I would like to print from my desktop PC on "Network B" to a printer on "Network A", I would also like to be able to access NAS1 on "Network B" too.
I have a spare switch and cables if need be, I also don't have an issue with buying any gear needed if it makes the situation easier or simplier. I have been thinking of upgrading to Ubiquiti equipment anyway.
I can't get rid of either network due to circumstances out of my hands.

I have a cable from the switch on Network A to Network B that connects the networks, however devices from network A would be connecting to the router on Network B that I didn't want. So I turned off DHCP and assigned IP's manually to the 3 devices I wanted using Network B. When DHCP was on, I could access the printer or NAS on Network B, but it meant uses on Network A would lose access to them.

Notes:
The switch in Network A is an Unmanaged TP-Link TL-SG116 16-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch. Does it need to be a manged switch in this instance?
The router on Network B has had the WiFi disbaled as there was no need for it as everything is wired up.


I'm sure there is a solution, just haven't figured it out myself yet.

[Electronics Wizardy]

More advanced routers will let you set routes between the networks, but most home routers will assume you just have one l2 network. Something like pfsense can do this, but thats a lot of network setup.

 

Best and easiest way is probably to do a vpn on the desktop for accessing the printer, and don't use that line between them. Or just plug network cables from both networks in the desktop that needs access to both networks, and don't connect them at the router level.

[HawkJ]

Hi, 

So as mentioned above, the reason why you can’t see those devices on Network B is because the router on Network B doesn’t know where 192.168.0.x is. Connecting it with a switch doesn’t help either. There are a few ways you can tackle this problem

 

1. As mentioned above, use VPN. Setup server on one router and client on the other. VPN will take care of the routes. (The easiest)
 

2. Connect Router A and B directly or with switch and then on both the routers, you set static route to the other one, so they know where and what port to forward the intended traffic to. (The fastest)
 

Ps Setting up a managed switch would complicate things a lot more with the routes. So don’t do that. 

[Biomecanoid]

7 hours ago, Antistatic12 said:

Hello LTT forums, hoping to get this sorted as it's doing my head in.
As seen in the crudely put together image below, I would like to print from my desktop PC on "Network B" to a printer on "Network A", I would also like to be able to access NAS1 on "Network B" too.
I have a spare switch and cables if need be, I also don't have an issue with buying any gear needed if it makes the situation easier or simplier. I have been thinking of upgrading to Ubiquiti equipment anyway.
I can't get rid of either network due to circumstances out of my hands.

I have a cable from the switch on Network A to Network B that connects the networks, however devices from network A would be connecting to the router on Network B that I didn't want. So I turned off DHCP and assigned IP's manually to the 3 devices I wanted using Network B. When DHCP was on, I could access the printer or NAS on Network B, but it meant uses on Network A would lose access to them.

Notes:
The switch in Network A is an Unmanaged TP-Link TL-SG116 16-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch. Does it need to be a manged switch in this instance?
The router on Network B has had the WiFi disbaled as there was no need for it as everything is wired up.


I'm sure there is a solution, just haven't figured it out myself yet.

1. Change your side of the network to the same subnet as the remote network using static IPs that are not in the DHCP range of the remote network ( you don't have many devices it should be easy enough )

2.VPN but both sides of the network should support it ( Routers support VPN ? )

3. Replace your WiFi router with a router that supports multiple LAN interfaces ( Mikrotik ? )

4. PfSence is a very good solution ( as already mentioned ) and you will get a lot of extra benefits from it.