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First time poster - trying my best to give as much detail as I can, so please bear with me.

SUMMARY The crux of the problem seems to be that setting a default gateway using the static route function on my Asus RT-AC88U (running Merlin 384.18) does not work. When I set it using a command on a windows PC (for example route add 192.168.2.41 MASK 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.2) works fine. What also works is a manual ip configuration on my iPhone using the same addresses.

However, I have a work laptop on which I am unable to run route change or route add. Therefore I am trying for force my work laptop to use 192.168.2.2 as the default gateway. I have assigned the work laptop a static IP address - that is working. But, I can't then route the traffic through the 192.168.2.2 gateway.

screen shot of static route configuration

BACKGROUND By way of background, here's what I am doing, and why....

We have two internet connections at home. One ADSL and one Satellite. Each connection has certain advantages and disadvantages including latency, speed and traffic caps etc. For that reason, I want to be able to control which device uses which Internet connection. That way we can manage bandwidth and latecy issues with all four of us working/studying from home.

I used this forum entry, on this forum to set up my network initially - and it's really working beautifully, except for this one issue. Two internet connections, two routers, one network

For information, the second router is Netgear Nighthawk R7000 which has DHCP turned off and is assigned the static IP address 192.168.2.2. (thus making it the Satellite Internet connection gateway). The Asus RT-AC88U has an IP address of 192.168.2.1. It is hosting the ADSL Internet connection and it is the Default Gateway for this network setup.

QUESTION(S)

  1. What I am doing wrong to prevent the static route from working?
  2. What else can I try to force 192.168.2.41 to use 192.168.2.2 as the gateway instead of the default 192.168.2.1?

I am happy to add more information if it's required - just let me know what's needed to paint a fuller picture!

Thanks!

Hennes
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RoboCruiser
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1 Answers1

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Your question is a bit unclear, but the answer does not lie in modifying thr routing table on the RT-AC88U - in fact you really should remove the route you have added.

Answer to 1 - The changes you are making need to be done on the laptop itself - anything else will be ineffective unless you reconfigure your entire network. *The reason is why what you are doing is not working is because traffic in the same network (ie 192.168.2. ) does not go through the router (except for traffic destined for the routers IP address of-course). For this reason making changes to the router won't enable devices to see it.

Answer to 2 - You really need to advise why you "can't then route the traffic through the 192.168.2.2 gateway." his should be possible and fixing whatever is stopping this happening is likely by far the best solution. If its a limit related to the device being locked down and only accepting DHCP, its a bit of work (I use dd-wrt, not Merlin, so not sure the nuance differences which are relevant here), but as DHCP servers can be configured to provide a gateway as part of a DHCP lease - which would allow you to do this - with some difficulty - without modifying the configuration of the laptop.

If you do want to do this on your router, and DHCP is not an option, it is possible - in theory at least - to do source routing. (Policy based routing). This is fairly advanced, and would mean setting up a separate routing table and then matching all traffic with the source IP address of the work laptop to forward from the primary to the second router. This is horribly messy, horribly tricky and could create additional hidden gotchas (particularly asymetric routing and issues related to the ARP redirects - your really, really don't want to go here)

davidgo
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