I've spent some hours on this without luck; the problem is that two subnets can't see each other, or a printer which is meant to be shared between the subnets.

Setup:
I've got a 2800, which has 4 LAN ports:

Port 1 is connected to router A; the other side of the router is my work kit, on 192.168.1.x. Router A gets a dynamic address from the 2800, currently fixed at 192.168.254.255

Port 2 is connected to router B; the other side of the router has my kid's computers, on 162.168.254.x. Router B gets a dynamic address from the 2800, currently fixed at 192.168.254.3.

Port 3 is a printer which needs to be shared by both subnets. It's currently on the 254 subnet, with a dynamic address from the 2800, currently fixed at 192.168.254.4.

So, the 2800's LAN is all on the 254 subnet, and the 2800 itself has address 192.168.254.12.

Both subnets can see the internet without problems. The 254 subnet can, unsurprisingly, see the printer on port 3 of the 2800. The problem is that my work subnet on 1.x can't see the printer on 254.x. It would be nice if I could also see into the rest of the 254 subnet, but this isn't essential (it's insecure, so I don't want it to see back into the work subnet).

I've tried various static routes, and RIP, but without luck. When I try to access the printer from 1.x I use address 192.168.254.4; this goes to router A. Router A presumably sends it out on the uplink (192.168.254.255) to the 2800, which I'm expecting to just connect to port 3 on the router.

The 2800 can ping the printer on 254.4, but router A can't do this.

Any ideas what I need to do to fix this?

Thanks -

Evan

Well, no luck on that question. I was going to go on to ask about how I could set up the firewall to do something trivial. I need to restrict internet access on the kids' computers, so they only have a connection between, for example, 8 and 10PM.

I set this up a few weeks ago, and it was incredibly complicated, for something that should have been trivial. The problem is, it doesn't work. It works some of the time, but normally it's just a waste of electronics. Tonight, for example, one of them had a browser screen telling them that an administrator had cut off their internet access (good), but she could carry on using MSN regardless. Not so good.

In short, the 2800 is completely bloody useless.

Now, my real question: can anyone recommend a router/firewall that actually works? Preferably not Draytek.

Thanks.

Hi Evan, this is probably too late, but here are some thoughts.
Don't use dynamic addresses. Routers should be configured with fixed addresses.
Each router has 2 IP addresses, one on each sub-net it connects to.
You mention a dynamic address of something.255, but this is an illegal address. By convention a suffix of 255 is for local broadcast.
Are u sure the devices are routers and not simply ethernet swithces ?

Thanks