Configure XP as a router - possible?

[ant1b0dy]

Is it possible to have an XP box act as a router - i.e. all other PCs on the network would obtain an IP address (via DHCP) from this PC and use it as a gateway? What I'd like to do is be able to have one PC connect to 2 ISPs for local/international using my RouteSentry app but then be able to share this 'split' connection by having the PC itself act as a router/gateway. Standard ICS doesn't work because AFAIK it only allows you to share ONE connection while I want the traffic to be split between the local/international connections.

I've tried to program my router to do 2 simultaneous connections but I've had no luck with it (see Fausto's post: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=52541)

I've tried to find info regarding this on google but without much luck. Can anyone point me in the right direction? If possible I would write an app or service that would automate this in order to make this type of internet connection sharing much easier.

Thanks!

 

[ziglet]

Only thing i can think of is allow the client pc's to connect to the "router xp" pc via windows vpn...

my 2cents

 

[jacobstone]

Any PC can be a firewall, it just needs two NICs in it and some software to do the firewall'ing.

One NIC on the router IP range and one on the LAN range, all PC's point to the firewall PC as their gateway.

I know nothing about splitting data over separate DSL accounts though

 

[Darth Garth]

Yeah it is possible.

http://www.weird-solutions.com/weirdSolutions/pages/02products/02turbo/dhcpTurbo/index.php

 

[koffiejunkie]

Possible: yes
Recommended: no

Windows XP has ICS (Internet Connection Sharing), so yes, it can NAT and everybody can connect through it. I'm sure the same numbe_ of_connections still apply. To the best of my knowledge it doesn't have a DHCP server built in, but I'm sure you can get a third party app for that. 602 Suite I think has this ability.

But really, an old Pentium-I and IP-COP is a much safer solution.

 

[ant1b0dy]

Thanks for the replies. The VPN idea seemed like the best (thanks ziglet!) and after a lot of searching and fiddling I eventually got it working the way I wanted!

I wrote the following post about sharing RouteSentry's connections using VPN software if anyone's interested:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=57586

 

[w1z4rd]

To the best of my knowledge it doesn't have a DHCP server built in, .

.

I think it does have a DHCP server built into it, well the ICS part anyways. When you setup the gateway server with ICS, and you enable your DHCP client in Windows, it does get handed an address in the 192.168.0.x range.

 

[lilDeath]

geez, you can do so many things...
ICS (Internet Connection Sharing), DHCP, VPN
Routing and remote access
etc.

but whether it is a good idea is a completely other story.
I prefer network devices to do my routing, if not, then at least a proper server OS.

 

[Some Guy]

2 NICs in one system, how to get internet to other system?

Ahm... I am kind of confused about whether this relates to the last posts, but...

I want to do something which would seem to be really simple.

I have a cable modem connected to NIC #1 in my system, and NIC #2 in my system is connected to my girlfriend's laptop.

How do I make it so the laptop gets internet? (just using what I have)

Thanks in advance folks.

 

[Some Guy]

Oh, I also want to actually be able to use this baby network for file transfer and a bit of gaming without hassle.