Two Networks, One public and One Private

[Unixwolf]

I have two networks, one that my users access the Internet with (provided by our university) and a private network that I built for access to our XSAN Raid powered by 4 Xserves (providing DHCP addresses via the servers and a Netgear router (the router is my gateway)). I am having trouble with my macs connecting to both networks at the same time.

The PCs on were also having this issue but I was able to force the external networks gateway address to load first by adding a permanent route through the routing table. I am hoping there is a way to do this on the mac and that it may work. The funny part about this is, this problem is now only happening on Apple laptops using PCIMCA NIC Cards (tried two different types of cards), but when attached via wireless to the external network there are no problems with both networks working together.

Any ideas?

 

[Unixwolf]

This a reply I received from someone that was not sure of my question, as well as my response:

Anthony,

Hello, I am slightly confused. When using two wired networks, one internal and one external, it is not routing correctly. Do they at least talk to local devices on each connected network and the issue is with a default gateway? Is one network (the non-default gateway network) have other networks on the side that it should route traffic too, or is everything else going to the default gateway network.

Sorry, I don't know if your external or internal is your default gateway network.

Scott

My response:

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner.

I am not exactly sure of what you are asking but the trouble is, when the two networks are attached to the Macs which only have one network port, I have toå have a third party card or device to attach to our private (internal) network. I am setting up these devices to attach with a static IP (although I have tried DHCP) and pointing to the private networks gateway. The macs have no trouble communicating to either network by itself, but once a connection is made to the private (internal) network, connection to the public (external) network is lost and can only be re-established with a reboot.

Both networks have a gateway, but the public (external) network should be the first to load in the routing table ( http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/route.mspx?mfr=true ) in-order for the Windows computers to attach to both networks successfully. I am hoping to troubleshoot this problem by finding out if the Mac OS X operating system (or the BSD underside) can be controlled in the same way to see if this will work with PCIMCIA NIC cards. The Macs do seem to work when connecting to the public (external) network using the airport (wireless) card and the built-in ethernet connecting to the private (internal) network; this solution only works for Macs that have a airport card though.

I hope I was a little clearer in my explanation of my question; please let me know if I can help you help me any further.

If anyone has any advice, it would be very appreciated.

 

[Decade]

Your setup is confusing. Why should the private network's servers give out a default route? As I understand it, if you configure your private network with no route, then there will be no conflict.

 

[Unixwolf]

An Apple XSAN requires its own network configuration, especially when requiring a private network, explain how you would setup an Apple XSAN with no route, that would be supported by Apple. I am open to any new, but proven ways that will work in this environment. Please, also note this setup works just fine with the Windows platform and any Macs attaching with wireless, as I have explained in detail.

What I am trying to have answered here is is there a way to adjust how the Macs force a particular route if possible, as explained in previous posts, how this can be adjusted with the Windows platform. I am trying to do this for troubleshooting purposes. Please read all my posts in this tread for a detailed history of my question, thanks again.