Question about Static Routes

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grant_k

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#100910 20-Apr-2012 21:13

First up, I must confess that I have never understood how to set up Static Routes between various pieces of networking kit, and my lack of knowledge has caught me out tonight. Here is the situation:

- I have just installed Vodafone RBI wireless broadband
- CPE is a Huawei B970b, and everything is working brilliantly
- With my previous wireless broadband provider I was using a Cisco SRP521W which has an Ethernet WAN port, and 2 VoIP ports, USB mobile data stick failover, etc, etc

Because the Cisco is a much more capable router than the Huawei, I want to continue to use it as the gateway for all my devices on the LAN. So I have connected the WAN port on the Cisco to one of the LAN ports on the Huawei, and we are in business with internet connectivity, and VoIP phone service working again.

IP address setup is like this:

- Huawei LAN address 192.168.1.1 with subnet 255.255.255.0
- WAN port on the Cisco set to acquire its IP via DHCP from the Huawei
- LAN address of the Cisco set to 192.168.2.1 with subnet 255.255.255.0 and DHCP server disabled for now
- Desktop PC set with a static IP address in the 192.168.2.* range

So far, so good, my Desktop PC can connect to the internet, and also access the management pages of the Cisco at 192.168.2.1.

What I would like to be able to do, is access the managment pages of the Huawei, but of course with my PC on a different subnet, it isn't possible. I have tried setting up Static Routes with various IP addresses and Subnets, but none of them seem to work.

When setting up a Static Route on the Cisco, it asks for:

- Route Name (could be anything I guess)
- Destination subnet
- Subnet Mask
- Gateway
- Interface (WAN1, VLAN1 or VLAN100)

Regarding the Interface selection, VLAN1 is the default data subnet, and VLAN100 is reserved for a separate voice subnet (which I am not using).

I have tried everything I can think of in those boxes, but to no avail...

First off: Is this possible?
Second: If so, how do I make it work.

Any and all suggestions appreciated.

stefankrz

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#612635 20-Apr-2012 22:44

from your notes the routes on the Cisco should be a default route pointing to the Huawei through wan1 and a route for 192.168.2.1 pointing to vlan1. This sounds like that is correct as you have internet access.

on the Huawei you will have a default route out to the internet and a route for 192.168.1.1 pointing to the lan port. What may be missing is a route for 192.168.2.1 with the gateway being the Cisco's IP address. As it can't see that subnet on its ports it may be trying to route that traffic out to internet port

also make sure all the subnet masks on the devices including the desktop are set to 255.255.255.0 so they know the two 192.168 networks are seperate

grant_k

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#612655 20-Apr-2012 23:20

Thanks for your suggestion Stefan. If I have interpreted it correctly, you are suggesting that I set up a Static Route on the Huawei, pointing back to the Cisco?

Unfortunately, the Huawei is a very basic router, and it doesn't have the ability to set up static routes.

I have all the subnet masks set to 255.255.255.0 as you suggested.

The Cisco also has the ability to disable NAT, so I am wondering if that would be an easier way around it. However, if I do that, and try to use the mobile data stick failover, I don't know if it would work as a router and be able to share the connection among various local PCs without NAT. Could try it I guess and see what happens...

Which do you think is the best idea?

hashbrown

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#613167 22-Apr-2012 15:09

If NAT is on for the Cisco you should have no problem accessing the Huawei without the need for static routes. The NAT should change your source to a 192.168.1.x address which will be valid on the Huawei.

I can't think why you'd have an issue apart from some sort of quirk in NAT on the Cisco when the destination is locally connected.