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john2060

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Routing 2 local networks together

Hi - need help with what I think is a simple configuration... I just am pretty inexperienced in this area.  All suggestions are greatly appreciated!

I have 2 networks that I want to connect to share resources (stuff at home).  Basically, one network is a physical LAN, the other is WiFi.  The routers on both are pretty limited and cannot be configured with static routes or really anything helpful.  One is a uVerse device (2-wire I believe) and the other is Google WiFi.  Also, I cannot simply connect the wired LAN through Google WiFi to create a single network as that kills my TV service (that travels through that LAN).  Apparently uVerse boxes like to be directly connected to their router.  And... I cannot bridge the Google WiFi onto the LAN as the IPs cannot be changed to align because of the mesh.  The internet is coning through the uVerse device.  So it seems that am left with inserting a router between the 2 networks so that they can communicate with each other.

An example of what I need to work is controlling resources such as Sonos that are on the wired network network from devices (like phones) on the WiFi network.

I have an EdgeMax PoE router and the 2 networks are connected to the eth0 and eth1 interfaces.  From some research it looks like I need to create static routes between, but this is where I fall apart.  In have experimented but cannot figure things out.  I am looking for 192.168.0.0/24 to communicate with 192.168.86.0/24.  The ports on the EdgeMax are set to 192.168.0.254 and 192.168.86.254 respectively.  The internet gateway (and DNS) is 192.168.0.1.

Hope that is enough info to start.  Please let me know if I am on the right path and, if so, where I should go next.

Best,
John
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John
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Connect a LAN port on the Wi-Fi router to your network, give the Wi-Fi router a static IP on your network, and turn DHCP off on the Wi-Fi router. I do this routinely and it works
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john2060

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Thanks for ht reply John.  Unfortunately, this is where is gets complicated... and where I probably was not specific enough.  The Google WiFi mesh network does not allow for changing the address to a static on the existing notwork nor does it allow for disabling DHCP.  So I will need a solution with a router that connects the 2 networks.  Yes - I like pain.  Well... I want to "play" with the Google WiFi mesh routers so am willing to go through some of it at least... :-)

For all intents and purposes, consider this a question about connecting 2 local LANs with different subnets and allow sharing of resources and all common network communication between.  There is no need to security to limit anything.
I have lashed lots of Wi-Fi routers together the way I described but I have not used Google Mesh.
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Here is the "standard" formula:

1) Introduce a router in router (not gateway) mode.  This means no NAT.
2) connect one side to one subnet and connect the other side to the other subnet.  This means assigning a static IP address to the WAN interface for one subnet and a static IP address to a LAN interface for the other subnet.  Let's use 192.168.1.99 and 192.168.2.99 just as an example.
3) assuming that the LAN subnets are 192.168.1.0/24 and 192.168.2.0/24 with gateways 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.2.1 respectively, add a route to each gateway:
In 192.168.1.1 add route 192.168.2.0/24 to 192.168.1.99
In 192.168.2.1 add route 192.168.1.0/24 to 192.168.2.99

If this can't work then a little more explanation of what the limitations are specifically would be helpful.
Thank you all for the replies.  The NAT thing might be hindering the process.  Let me provide some more specifics here that might clarify.

I have an EdgeMax PoE (fw v1.9.1) and would like to use it to connect 2 networks for the purpose of allowing open traffic and discovery between the 2 subnets. It is for a home network so no security/firewall is necessary, and I want all devices on each network to be able to communicate with the other. The problem is that I cannot control devices on my physical LAN from devices on my WiFi network as they are on different networks. My hope this this is basic stuff and I just am simply not experienced enough to figure it out.  In addition to the EdgeMax, I have:

Router 1: 2Wire 3801HGV (AT&T uVerse)
To this router I have connected a wired network to its LAN ports
192.168.0.1 is the router address with subnet 255.255.255.0
GW and DNS for that LAN are the same IP
DHCP is on
This is where I have my internet connection
This network feeds my uVerse television signal and MUST be the direct connection to my set top boxes (STBs) - it cannot pass through another router when feeding them. I break out the signal at each of the jacks by the televisions and connect other devices as well (AV equipment, Sonos, remote controls, and the like).

Router 2: Google Wifi
This is purely a WiFi network
192.168.0.2 is the WAN address (hardwired to the 2Wire now)
192.168.86.1 is the router address, subnet of 255.255.255.0
DHCP is on
Due to something with the mesh network these things set up, I cannot bridge it to the physical LAN on Router 1 or turn it into a simple access point. It must have its own network. The devices do have a RJ45 out though to connect physical equipment to the WiFi segment.

Although Router 1 (2Wire) is very unconfigurable, it looks like I can also set the equivalent of one static route called a Cascaded Router - I can enter Network Address, Subnet Mask, and Router Address. Not sure if this is needed. Additionally, Router 2 (Google) is very unconfigurable in this area. It is "stuck" on NAT and the most I can change are port forwarding rules.  Although I only need the WiFi devices to "see" the devices on the physical LAN, and not the other way around, if that makes a difference.

Router 3: EdgeMax PoE
I can configure this in any needed to connect the 2 networks. I just don't know what to do to accomplish this :-). This is where I need advice on programming it.

So... can the EdgeMax be used to connect these 2 networks successfully so that I can ping between them (as well as have devices "see" each other)? If so, or even if there are caveats, how would I go about doing this?

Thank you very much for the help!!
John
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Thank you Fred - this was a good help.  I used the Cascaded Router setting in the 2Wire and entered the range for the Google WiFi.  I am able to now ping the LAN from my WiFi and talk to devices (as I wanted).

Unfortunately, I also discovered that I need to be able to talk to some of the devices on the WiFi from the LAN.  And, I also discovered that certain apps cannot find devices on the LAN from the WiFi.  This is particularly annoying with Sonos as they seem to talk to the devices in such a way that required the app sit on the same segment as the device.  Oh well... more weighing options.  Good start for now.
I also discovered that I need to be able to talk to some of the devices on the WiFi from the LAN.
If the 2Wire has the route to the G-WiFi subnet then it should work.  Maybe the *devices* aren't set up to be accessible.  Maybe the subnet is set up to NOT allow inter-computer communications (such as a guest network in a hotel might well be configured).