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I recently started working as a web developer in a small business based in cyprus.

Here's the thing, they want me to fix their messed up network which has a dsl(for internet) connected on a rack switch panel(48 ports), half of the ports are occupied for telephones.

Then, there's gigabit switch(24 ports) connected on the rack and 2 tp-links routers(office,storage) are connected on the 24 ports switch, both of them as dhcp with different ip ranges for them to cover the whole company with wifi.

Whenever you connect a new device or the lease time ends there's a 50% chance for that device to connect on the storage's tp-link, it will get an IP but won't have access to the internet nor the "intranet"

This is how the network goes.
dsl->panel switch ->switch ->switch, router(storage), router(office) -> switch(connected from office)-> wifi repeater

dsl: connected to panel, with wifi employees phones
panel: 14 telephones, 1 switch
switch1: 2 routers, 1 switch, 1pc
switch2: 2pc, 2 printers, 1 credit card machine, server
router(storage): 1pc, 2 phones
router(office): 1pc, 1 printer
switch(connected from office): 1 wifi extender, 5 computers, 2 laptops (wireless from the extender)

Forgot to mention sometimes there's a conflic

Clearly you can see i have no idea of networks from my explanation.

Kypros Vassiliou
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1 Answers1

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It would need more effort to redesign the whole network than it's possible to answer on this kind of Q/A site, but fortunately the main problem has at least two easy solutions.

Currently you have two WiFi routers with the same configuration but without any common management: they have independent DHCP servers and routing to the wired network.

  1. Use different SSIDs (and possibly subnets) on the routers. Clients will be aware of connecting to a totally different network, and you can even decide to only setup one SSID on some clients.

  2. Configure the WiFi access points as bridges instead of routers. That way all the clients will use the same DHCP server regardless of the AP they are using. (Not possible with all devices.)

That's still far from a good overall network design, but it's one step forward and should solve this.

Esa Jokinen
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  • they have different ssids but i don't think i can config them as bridges due to the distance. Without a wifi antenna you can't find 2 of the 4 wifi spots. Main problem is the computers in the office sometimes connect on the router in the storage and have no access to anything – Kypros Vassiliou Aug 04 '17 at 07:42
  • I suggested to them to change all cables remove the routers and replace them with wifi repeaters and have everything connected on the rack or the switch, will this help? – Kypros Vassiliou Aug 04 '17 at 07:45
  • basically dsl-rack-switch-everything else – Kypros Vassiliou Aug 04 '17 at 07:53