Trying to join two networks, unsuccesfully

[onebigfish]

I am having trouble setting up a second router to join two networks together. The main reason I am doing this is that we are running out of IP addresses.

The diagram below is a basic overview of what we have.



This is what I need:

• Devices on 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x communicate with each other
• Devices on 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x connect to the Internet
• Routers A and B assign DHCP addresses to the devices connected to them by wi-fi

These are a few issues I am having:

• Devices on 192.168.0.x can ping devices on 192.168.1.x, but devices on 1.x cannot ping 0.x.
• Internet does not always function for wi-fi devices.
• Wi-fi signals drop occasionally.
• Incorrect DHCP addresses are sometimes assigned.

I have looked and ready many pages and tried several things but I cannot get it to work properly. I would really appreciate some help. I do well at basic networking but this one has me frustrated. 

OBF

[Otanx]

Do you have a diagram of how it is all connected? Models of the routers? Could be a lot of reasons it isn't working.

-Otanx

[onebigfish]

Thank you for responding.

I updated the diagram and added a few points below that hopefully explain more.

• There are 4x 24-port and 1x 48-port switches connected together.
• Each router has 4 LAN and 1 WAN port.
• One of each router's LAN ports is connected to one of the switches.
• Router A's WAN is connected to the modem.
• Router B's WAN is connected to one of Router A's LAN ports.
• The "devices on either network consist of wired and wireless computers, printers, mobile devices, etc and are a mix of static and DHCP.

OBF

[deanwebb]

I see an issue... two different DHCP servers means whoever assigns the address first, wins. What's the switch vendor/model? It should be able to support more than one VLAN (one each for your networks) and then be able to specify the DHCP server for that VLAN.

For wifi dropping, that may have more to do with physical access to the WLAN access point: do you have more than one in the office? Is the office too large for just one access point?

[icecream-guy]

put a transit link between the two network routers like 192.168.3.0/29

Router A 192.168.3.1
Router B 192.168.3.2

put a route on router A to 192.168.0.0/24  next hop ip 192.168.3.2
put a route on router B to 192.168.1.0/24  next hop ip 192.168.3.1
put a default route 0.0.0.0/0 on router B next hop ip 192.168.3.1 for internet

[onebigfish]

I see an issue... two different DHCP servers means whoever assigns the address first, wins. What's the switch vendor/model? It should be able to support more than one VLAN (one each for your networks) and then be able to specify the DHCP server for that VLAN.

There are five switches:

• 2x TP-Link model TL-SG1024D
• Netgear model GS752TP
• Netgear model JFS524
• Tenda model TEG1024G

[onebigfish]

put a transit link between the two network routers like 192.168.3.0/29

Router A 192.168.3.1
Router B 192.168.3.2

put a route on router A to 192.168.0.0/24  next hop ip 192.168.3.2
put a route on router B to 192.168.1.0/24  next hop ip 192.168.3.1
put a default route 0.0.0.0/0 on router B next hop ip 192.168.3.1 for internet

I know what a route is, but what is a transit link?

[deanwebb]

I'll leave the transit link discussion to icecream-guy.

For the switches, can they support VLAN creations? If yes, then you should specify the DHCP server that handles clients on the switch. Use only one, not both.

[icecream-guy]

put a transit link between the two network routers like 192.168.3.0/29

Router A 192.168.3.1
Router B 192.168.3.2

put a route on router A to 192.168.0.0/24  next hop ip 192.168.3.2
put a route on router B to 192.168.1.0/24  next hop ip 192.168.3.1
put a default route 0.0.0.0/0 on router B next hop ip 192.168.3.1 for internet

I know what a route is, but what is a transit link?

A transit network (link) is a network that bridges a connection between two other networks

sometimes with these consumer grade routers, they get confused with routing multiple networks, AKA can't handle DMZ networks. or WAN port on one router is connected to LAN port on another router.


the RT-AX58U looks like you can assign a IP address to the LAN ports & route

Code Select Expand


To configure the LAN Routing table:
1. From the navigation panel, go to Advanced Settings > LAN >
Route tab.
2. On the Enable static routes field, choose Yes.
3. On the Static Route List, enter the network information of
other access points or nodes. Click the Add or Delete
button to add or remove a device on the list.
4. Click Apply.


on the AC-2600* 
configure static IP address for the WAN port.
configure a default route

*(manual was not very helpful)