Possible subnet resolution or any other ideas?

[blyxx86]

Alright, I am not the IT guy at my building, and our company's IT guy knows less than me (or so it seems.)

We are trying to have more IP addresses available with our network. We do a lot with wireless devices and have anywhere from 20-100 being used at one time (usually always with a DHCP assigned address) but we are running out of available addresses.

Not being the IT guy at the company, I am trying to bypass this issue without having to manually configure our actual router or server.

The one idea I had was to place a consumer, or possible other router, to get it's ip address and then assign more ip addresses to the wireless devices within our lab, but still be able to access the network printer (which would not be inside the new 'network' created by the router)

For example, our current network is 192.168.100.xxx if we get a router (like a linksys wireless router) and configure it with a static IP address of 192.168.100.55 and our new network would then be assigned (by DHCP) ip addresses of 192.168.90.xxx. (Giving us 200+ available addresses instead of the 80 available now.)

My question is thus: If we do set up the network in this fashion, would we be able to access outside of the "sub" network and still access the internet and print from our local printers (the printers would be on the 192.168.100.xxx network, not the 192.168.90.xxx network) or would we have some other issues to encounter?

[sashi]

Alright, I am not the IT guy at my building, and our company's IT guy knows less than me (or so it seems.)

We are trying to have more IP addresses available with our network. We do a lot with wireless devices and have anywhere from 20-100 being used at one time (usually always with a DHCP assigned address) but we are running out of available addresses.

Not being the IT guy at the company, I am trying to bypass this issue without having to manually configure our actual router or server.

The one idea I had was to place a consumer, or possible other router, to get it's ip address and then assign more ip addresses to the wireless devices within our lab, but still be able to access the network printer (which would not be inside the new 'network' created by the router)

For example, our current network is 192.168.100.xxx if we get a router (like a linksys wireless router) and configure it with a static IP address of 192.168.100.55 and our new network would then be assigned (by DHCP) ip addresses of 192.168.90.xxx. (Giving us 200+ available addresses instead of the 80 available now.)

My question is thus: If we do set up the network in this fashion, would we be able to access outside of the "sub" network and still access the internet and print from our local printers (the printers would be on the 192.168.100.xxx network, not the 192.168.90.xxx network) or would we have some other issues to encounter?

Hi there,

Kindly refer to below attached link for further reading & understanding, hope it helps. Good luck & Take care.

DHCP - Step by step guide

[NeoPa]

You would have more complicated problems dealing with two separate subnets (what you're suggesting).
You would then be in the realms of Wide Area Networks (WANs) rather than the simpler Local Area Networks (LANs) which includes the more problematic issues of Routing (dynamic and otherwise).
Your DHCP server assigns a maximum of 80 addresses? Why?
Your subnet should handle addresses from 192.168.100.1 through 192.168.100.254.
Some of your devices are likely to be assigned statically (Servers; Printers etc) but that should still leave a pool of more than 70. Speak to your IT guy about increasing the range of the DHCP pool.

[blyxx86]

You would have more complicated problems dealing with two separate subnets (what you're suggesting).
You would then be in the realms of Wide Area Networks (WANs) rather than the simpler Local Area Networks (LANs) which includes the more problematic issues of Routing (dynamic and otherwise).
Your DHCP server assigns a maximum of 80 addresses? Why?
Your subnet should handle addresses from 192.168.100.1 through 192.168.100.254.
Some of your devices are likely to be assigned statically (Servers; Printers etc) but that should still leave a pool of more than 70. Speak to your IT guy about increasing the range of the DHCP pool.

So, if we increase the subnet mask to be 255.255.0.0 we would have a lot more available IP addresses? (I never fully understood Subnetting)

We have a range from 100-254, but in the average day only about 80 are available. The rest are being used. However, once we step into the lab, those 80 are easily used up on a busy day. Then we start getting conflicts as the technicians start assigning IP addresses.

We just need more available addresses, but still be able to access all the networked devices.

[NeoPa]

In the design of IP addressing, there are a number of ranges specified for private use (a bit like Public / Private schools - it's unclear what's meant by private). In this case I mean anyone can use it INTERNALLY. They are not routable.
(IP Address Classes)
(IP Private Address Ranges)
Technically, being a Class C address the subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0 - however, that's rarely adhered to nowadays and the SM can be changed to 255.255.0.0 without problems occurring.
EXCEPT :
This can only happen if all devices on the network are configured in a similar manner. You can't safely change it for just one department. This may mean (depending on rollout method) enormous amounts of work. It may be more sensible (May! Only May!) to use the Class B private address range instead. This could also involve lots of work for the network people.

[NeoPa]

Routing is another possibility, but too complicated to discuss here easily.
Too many possible issues involved.

[blyxx86]

Routing is another possibility, but too complicated to discuss here easily.
Too many possible issues involved.

I'm okay with routing, and i just finished a refresher course on Subnetting, thanks to my Cisco DVD I got in highschool.

I think we'll just end up supernetting (putting the subnet mask from 255.255.255.0 up to 255.255.192.0 or so)

Same concept as subnetting, but instead of taking one network (in this case 192.168.100.0) and splitting it into more networks, we will be taking a couple networks and combining them to one network.. I'd have to put the numbers down on paper to see the actual SN mask that would be used and what networks we would be using and the host addresses available. Not to mention how to reconfigure the DHCP server.

[NeoPa]

That should work, as long as you have control over all the areas that need to be changed. That is a superset of all the devices on that network. You sound like you know that already - good luck.

[blyxx86]

That should work, as long as you have control over all the areas that need to be changed. That is a superset of all the devices on that network. You sound like you know that already - good luck.

Good luck is right... I'm not the IT at work, there are 3 more levels between myself and him, but he doesn't know what is needed. The only other person there that really knows, is the guy above me. Head of Engineering. I'll run the idea through him tomorrow and see if he'll get it approved, I'll even try to get him a list of host addresses and whatever.

Any idea how the DHCP server would be configured? Or would it already know what to do when the subnet mask is applied?

I've never used a windows based DHCP server.

[sashi]

Good luck is right... I'm not the IT at work, there are 3 more levels between myself and him, but he doesn't know what is needed. The only other person there that really knows, is the guy above me. Head of Engineering. I'll run the idea through him tomorrow and see if he'll get it approved, I'll even try to get him a list of host addresses and whatever.

Any idea how the DHCP server would be configured? Or would it already know what to do when the subnet mask is applied?

I've never used a windows based DHCP server.

Hi there,

Run through the thread once again as i've already included a link on DHCP Server configuration guide, hope it helps. Good luck & Take care.

[NeoPa]

Sashi's right Blyxx86.
However, it doesn't sound like you have enough understanding and control for me to advise this course.
Being in IT myself I understand that there are usually (especially in this case) various matters which are not appreciated outside of IT (Unfortunately, sometimes not even in IT).
Don't get me wrong, this sort of thing can be done with the right understanding of both the overall issues and also the current set-up, but there are many gotchas for the unprepared. It's quite a fundamental change to the network.
Obviously you don't need my say so to proceed, I appreciate that fully, but remember later that I urged caution.