Using two broadband connections on server

Question

We are using a server computer (Windows 2008 Server) at our office. We use accounting software and the database (data directory) that is stored on that server. We work on the accounting software using Remote Desktop Connection.

Now last week we bought an Internet connection in addition to the one we already have and now we have two wifi connections. Meaning there are two WiFi networks at our office now. (Lets call them WiFi-A and WiFi-B respectively).The two Wireless Routers of these two connections are connected to the two network ports available on the server. So both the Wifi networks are connected to the server now.

We have laptops using Windows 7 to connect through the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC). Now when I connect to WiFi-B and work on RDC, some people who are connected through WiFi-A cannot log in to the RDC. I want to solve this matter in order to keep the work at my office going smoothly. I am not an expert on this. I want to be able to use both Wi-Fi routers to connect to the shared data directory on the server, without any problem. Router-A's IP address is 192.168.1.1 and Router-B's, 192.168.1.2.

Do I have to change certain settings on the router pages top avoid any conflicts? What do I have to do?

Answer 1

Your problem probably stems from having 2 routers (and thus 2 alternative default gateways and sets of routes) confusing things.

I'd suggest a different configuration (it might require a switch depending on how things are configured) -

   Internet Connection 1                        Internet Connection 2
         |                                            |
         |                                            |
    Router 1 (lan if = 192.168.1.1)                 Router 2 (lan if=192.168.2.1)
         |         Netmask 255.255.255.0              |      Netmask 255.255.255.0
         |                                            |
         |_________                             ______|
                  |                            |
         Server (192.168.1.2 if)               Server (192.168.2.2 if)

This is not ideal, but better. It means that clients on Internet connection 1 will use 192.168.1.2 to reach the server and the other clients 192.168.2.2

If you need something more flexible, and you are in a position to statically assign IP addresses for workstations on Router 2, you should consider using the same IP addressing, but (a) disable DHCP on router 2 and (b) bridge connection 1 and connection 2 by ensuring that they both plug into the same port. Ensure that router 1 knows to reach 192.168.2.0/24 on its lan Interface by adding a static route for it, and similarly 192.168.1.0/24 to router 2. This will allow any machine to talk to any other machine through the LAN, and by enabling or disabling the static IP address of the computer you can control which connection it goes through. (If you were running a fancy DHCP server you could achieve the same thing without the static IP addresses, but thats probably out of the scope of a typical SU users setup.