I hope someone is able to assist with this problem. I have a requirement to put a printer with ONE nic card across two lans. Lan A & Lan B. Using a mini print server attached to the onboard USB2 port is NOT an option either as, the hardware that was tested for this failed to print Raw 9100 data and unix/mac output
Collapsing both lans via v-laning is not an option at this stage, maybe in the future. At least 12 months away
Does anyone know of any hardware maybe similar in formfactor to a "3/4 port router" that will allow me to assign individual Ip addresses to the RJ45 ports. Using "NAT" I will then be able to forward the individual ports to one of the other ports which will then be connected to the printer.
Any ideas how this may be accomplished appreciated.
Please supply names and models of suggested hardware if you know them.
Are you able to use different ports for Lan A and Lan B ? For example, would you be able to use TCP 9100 for A but TCP 9101 for B?
And is the -printer- able to perform the same function on multiple ports -- e.g., could the printer answer to both TCP 9100 and TCP 9101 (and the issue is just that it only has a single IP) ?
Actually, the latter question is the more important one, as I know of devices that can NAT the same destination port (and same destination IP, if need be) to different destinations dependant upon the source subnet range.
If you need to use the same internal IP address and same internal port number to serve both outside networks, then it starts to get difficult using traditional NAT techniques.
Ah... I just thought of a possibility. Is there a router (could be non-nat'ing) that could have a presence in both subnets? I seem to derive a bit of a hint that the scenario does not permit that, such as a security policy that mandates that the two networks stay seperated. If a router can be put in that joins the two networks then normally you would simply use the same IP address as the printer destination on both LANs and the routing would take care of the details; as I am sure you thought of that, there must be a Good Reason not to do so... but then having the same printer connected to both subnets would open up the possibility of security problems, so that wouldn't seem to be consistant either.
If there is an unusual situation I haven't come up with in which a router is allowed but the printer still has to effectively have two distinct IP addresses, then there are devices that can do the trick, such as a Cisco PIX 501. The PIX 501 is a few hundred dollars, though.
Perhaps you could toss on a Windows or Linux PC with two NICs and use that to direct the traffic appropriately? Unless your files are big (i.e., high throughput needed), you could probably put things together with "found parts".
The most obvious solution is two NAT routers with the WAN ports on the individual nets, the LAN side connected together and to the printer. As you say, configure port forwarding on the two NAT routers. (Most such routers have a built in repeater or switch, so no additional switch should be requited.)
Otherwise, you can put one NAT router between the two nets and put the printer directly on one of the nets. Unless there is a very large amount of traffic to the printer, this should be fine.
By LAN A and LAN B I assume you mean physically seperate LANS with seperate IP subnets.
Try to hook up a minimal Linksys router as an IP gateway between A and B and put a route command on all the clients on A to route IP packets for the IP address of teh prionter to teh IP addr of the gateway.
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.