[ndbug] Home networking issue

[N.J. Thomas]

Not a network admin by any means, but I won't let that stop me from
dispensing professional networking advice, hiyo! =-)

* Hrishikesh Muruk <hrishim at gmail.com> [2015-10-30 19:58:05+0530]:
> For Wifi Router1 I have configured its IP as 192.168.1.1
> For Wifi Router2 I have configured its IP as 192.168.1.2
[...]
> But FreeNAS box becomes inaccessible via Router2 (I physically change its
> connection but its static IP remains 192.168.1.103).

In addition to its IP, there's also a gateway and subnet mask that the
FreeNAS box is configured for. When you unplug it from one router and
plug it into another, that upstream info is changing, even though the IP
assigned to your FreeNAS box remains the same. Also there's some ARP
caching going on which is probably causing breakage as well.

Although I feel your pain in needing two ISPs, your internal setup is
not ideal.

What you really want to do is put some kind of box in the middle
(perhaps a cheap soekris box or something similar) that talks to both
your two ISPs. Then, you can plug your wifi (you only need one) and
FreeNAS box into this, and use a single internal subnet (e.g. 10/8).

If you'll permit a bit of ascii art:


    [ISP1] --- +                   + --- [FreeNAS Box]
               |                   |
               + --- [Soekris] --- + [wifi] --- <all wifi devices>
               |
    [ISP2] --- +

So basically, no need for two wifi routers, just one. Everything behind
the Soekris is in a private 10/8 (or 192.168/16 or 172.16/12) space,
however you decide to set it up.

e.g. You can configure your internal network to be in the 10/8 space.
The FreeNAS box can be 10.1.1.1. And then you configure the wifi router
to use a subnet of 10/8. So 10.2/16. So your phone would be 10.2.1.1,
etc.

In the examples above, I refer to a Soekris, but any mini set-top-box
that runs pfSense or BSD is fine. You can get them for really cheap.

hth,
Thomas