Hello, I have an entry level question regarding static routing, looked all over the net and could not find a clear answer. Maybe the smart folks here can give me a hand.
Using Static Routing table, point to two gateway routers (A and B). A is connected to the network in North America, while B is connected to the network in East Asia.
I want all the connections to North America to go through A, and to East Asia to go through B.
Is this possible? For the destination IP, could I use something like an IP range (by region) or else? Or does it have to be a specific and valid IP address?
There's several things you havn't told us with your questions. * Is this for a private network or the internet? * Are the two gateway routers doing HSRP or VRRP? * Is there a 3rd router that can help in the routing process?
1) It is not possible to -reliably- determine where an IP address is.
2) Even if you knew where the IP address was, the way to -get there- might be through a different country completely.
3) Locations change, and you can never capture that variability in a static routing. The locations can change -rapidly-.
For example, on my last vacation to the USA, I used my PDA to dial in to my servers in Canada and create a PPP connection that was allocated an IP from the Canadian server. No-one examining the IP address would have beeen able to tell that I was actually in the USA at the time.
Similarily, while I was connected in the above way, even if I had been reading a web page from a server that was physically in the next room over from me in the USA, in order for the data to reach me it had to be sent to the server in Canada, which then sent it over the attached modem to my PDA in the USA. If the web site -had- managed to determine that I was physically in the USA and had routed the data to the USA instead of to Canada, the data would not have reached me.
I have made the same kind of connection from my PDA to my servers at work by using a cell phone connection on a moving intra-city bus and on a moving intra-city train. If I had been visiting Europe at the time, the train might have passed through 3 countries within 2 minutes (near the border of several countries.)
If you are willing to settle for "a good approximation" then you could look up the IP address allocation blocks for North America (arin.net) and for Asia (apnic.net). For the data you get from ARIN, be sure to read off the country codes, as there are still some IPs [e.g., some large Japanese companies] that are for Asia but are registered through ARIN. Be warned that it's a fair bit of data...
It is seldom worth the effort to undertake this sort of task. It is usually much easier to arrange to get BGP routes sent to you and then for your router to decide dynamically which link to send to, based upon the calculated cost to reach the destination.
Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.