Member Avatar for GCLDAN

I have 7 computers. Three are networked together and have DSL internet. The other four are networked together and have, and must have, a static IP address as they are connected to a digital printer for printing. I do have a cable running from my SBC router to the hub, that the 4 computers with static IP's, are networked. My question is, how can I get the 4 computers, with static IP's connected to the internet through the SBC router that my three other computers are hooked up to. Do I need to buy another network card for each of the four computers?

Thanks in advance,
George

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Short answer for : extra network cards are normally not required. If the four machines and the SBC router are on the same LAN segment (the hub/switch uplinked to the router’s LAN side), those PCs can reach the Internet through the router while keeping fixed addresses. A second NIC is only needed when a single machine must sit on two different physical subnets or act as a router.

Practical, low-risk plan:

  • Use the router’s LAN as the central point: uplink the hub/switch to a LAN port and keep the printer on that same LAN so every client can reach it easily. Replace the hub with an inexpensive switch if possible to reduce collisions.
  • Prefer DHCP reservations on the router for devices that “need” stable addresses (printer, workstations) — this avoids manual mistakes while keeping addresses consistent. If manually assigning addresses, be careful to document MAC→IP mappings and avoid duplicates.
  • Verify each static client has the correct subnet mask, gateway and DNS entries that match the router’s LAN scheme so it can route to the Internet.

When the “static IPs” are public addresses supplied by the ISP, the setup is different: the router must support the routed block or the modem may need to be set to bridge mode so those public IPs can be used. In that scenario contact the ISP and confirm whether those addresses are intended for individual hosts or for the router to manage.

On the outage described by : fixed client addressing won’t hide an upstream signal or modem/router hardware problem. Gather router/modem logs, check link lights and cabling, try isolating one machine directly to the modem/router, update firmware, and swap the hub for a switch. This narrows whether the fault is on the WAN side or inside the LAN and builds on ideas from and .

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Member Avatar for Squires

If I am understanding your setup correctly, the static ip's should just need to be on the same network id as the router. Find out what the ip of the router is. Router documentation should say what the default ip is. If not, the simplest way would be go to a command prompt and type in "ipconfig"

The default gateway address is your router. In most cases, you should have a 192.168.x.x address, if not, specify what it is. The first 3 sections of the ip will be the network id, make sure that those numbers on your static ip's match the numbers on the router. For example if the default gateway is , then make sure the static ip addresses are 192.168.1.x Then assign x a static value(between 2-254). If the other 3 get their address through dhcp, make sure the static addresses are outside of the dhcp pool.

Member Avatar for easicomputers

I have a client with a similar setup. They have a Comcast Router with a fixed IP assigned with roughly 199 ip address available in the range. There are 8 desktop client machines, 1 wireless router and 1 network printer/fax connected to the router through an unmanaged 20 port Dlink switch. There is no server machine (all their work is remote via the internet). I have all the client machines setup to obtain IP and DNS automatically. There's been a recurring problem where internet service drops and when it drops, it effects all machines on the network, and (of course) Comcast is helpless to explain why but has replaced the modem and states there has been a history of loss of signal to the gateway. Would I be best to set each client with fixed IP and DSN settings? If so, what about the wireless router and the network printer?

Member Avatar for designbooks

not sure what digital printer you have however connecting the printer to a router could work and assigning dhcp to the desktop computers.

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