Need help configuring network

[edy]

Hi folks,

I'm having problems with my network. My VOIP softphone (on my computer) cannot find the SIP to configure itself. I will explain the topology.

I have a switch connected to a router, which is connected to the internet. All the office ethernet cables are connected into the switch. The computers and printers are all on 192.168.1.x. The VOIP phones are all set on 192.168.0.x and so is the main VOIP Box/SIP which is on 192.168.0.x. My internet cable modem/Wifi/router is on 192.168.2.1.

My computers can all "see" the other computers on the network (they are all in the 192.168.1.x), they share folders on computers. They also can get to the printer at 192.168.1.4, they can also see the WiFi printer connected to 192.168.2.x (which is connected to WiFi on the cablemodem).

I have all the hardware VOIP phones configured manually (DHCP off) and set their IP to 192.168.0.x and told them the SIP is located at 192.168.0.3. However, my VOIP softphone which is on one of my computers at 192.168.1.149 *does not see* the IP 192.168.0.3. I don't know why. I had it working before and then my router died, I ended up buying another router and everything set up but I imagine I must be missing something in the routing table.

I can try to move my entire VOIP over to the 192.168.1.x but it's an old system (TalkSwitch) and I'm afraid of screwing it up even more. I am assuming that I am unable to access 192.168.0.x from my computers on 192.168.1.x is the problem. For example, I previously had a printer that was set to 192.168.0.4 but that disappeared and so I had to move it to 192.168.1.x in order to allow my computers to print to it again. Obviously the switch/router is not passing stuff between 192.168.1.x and 192.168.0.x, although I am able to see stuff at 192.168.1.x and 192.168.2.x (like a WiFi printer connected to the network) no problem.

Subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 for everything, default gateway seems to be 192.168.1.1. The router is a LinkSys EA7300 MAX-STREAM AC1750 MU-MIMO Gigabit WiFi Router. It is set to Auto Config DHCP, start IP address 192.168.1.100, max devices 50 (IP address range 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.149).

Any help would be appreciated! NOTE: This all started because my previous router started acting funny and so I replaced it with the current one. The previous router was set as "Gateway". My current router has a "Bridge network" function, however when I tried that it made a big mess of things. So far I am at the point where everything works except for 1 VOIP softphone on a computer so I don't want to mess with things too much until I have some suggestions.

Thank you, hope the above makes some sense, please let me know if you need any more info.

PS - I've read the info here and currently trying to wrap that around my head as I'm sure the answer lies in this post:  https://superuser.com/questions/1360173/accessing-192-168-1-x-device-from-192-168-0-x-device

[cdev]

If I were you I would start fresh and pick your subnets in some way that divides them up functionaliy. Also, be aware that subnet mask is important as to how far the arp requests and replies propagate. (the broadcast stuff)

255.255.255.0 as your subnet mask will only propagate broadcast stuff to the same subnet, 255.255.0.0 will go to the same subnet plus the one above it. You are unlikely to need that unless you are a big organization. Am I making sense to you?

Do you just need a single subnet? That will alowyou tohave 254 machines with their own Class C address. (The usual kind) You likely do.

If so put them all in one subnet, say 192.168.1.0 (0 for the net number, 1 for the router) , with 192.168.1.1 as its single router and also use that number for the gateway and poof, everything will work. Use 255.255.255.0 as your subnet mask  You can have say 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254 be your (workstations) name them wks1 to wks254 if you want simplicity

95% of most home users can just do that.

Is this helpful?

[PKTKS]

(..)
If so put them all in one subnet, say 192.168.1.0 (0 for the net number, 1 for the router) , with 192.168.1.1 as its single router and also use that number for the gateway and poof, everything will work. Use 255.255.255.0 as your subnet mask
(..)

yep had the same question ...  Why complicating things using a spread subnet ?

If you do not have a very good reason putting all things on the same subnet should make your life a lot easier...  any router out there (cheapos and buggys) will work out of the box..

Alternative .. fuss your router to bridge your subnets...
depending on the firmware/brand/model..  your mileage will vary

Paul

[cdev]

Maybe he is like me and has some usage like a TV tuner on his net that he thinks might slow everything down if it was on the same subnet,or VOIP maybe where the phones need POE? and he doesnt have a big POE switch with some huge number of POE connections.. ??

He could still have a single subnet though, and it would still make it easier. With unmangled switch.

[edy]

Thanks for the input....  This network was originally set up by the IT guy who set up the office 10+ years ago. The VOIP (TalkSwitch) was somehow configured on 192.168.0.x, the rest of the network on 192.168.1.x. Since then we had a few different internet providers, most would provide a modem/wifi box configured on 192.168.2.x (so stuff plugged into that box or connected to it by WiFi were on 192.168.2.x). But even when changing internet providers, we would just plug internet into internet port on router and everything worked normally without having to changing anything.

The office network is very simple, all it has is:

- 5 computers, all on 192.168.1.x sharing and printing
- 2 printers:
    - hard-wired networked one on 192.168.1.x
    - WiFi-printer on 192.168.2.x (it's connected to the cable modem WiFi)
- 3 hardware VOIP phones (192.168.0.100-102) connected to a VOIP box 192.168.0.3

All of these devices are plugged into a switch. There is a single cable going from the switch to the router, and the router is plugged to "internet" on the wifi/cable modem router. That's it.

Everything works now after I reconfigured the system on the new router. The only problem is my VOIP softphone which is on one of my computers at 192.168.1.x which is unable to reach the SIP at 192.168.0.3 to configure itself and talk to the VOIP box.

Somehow the old router (installed 10+ years ago) started getting flakey and so I went out and bought a new one and had to reconfigure my entire network over the last few days to get everything running (which is ok, all except the softphone).

So I may have to switch the VOIP phone network over to 192.168.1.x. None of them are using PoE, so that is not a concern.

NOTE: I pulled up a screen from my previous router settings before switching to the new one, it had following settings:

Operation Mode:  [CHECK] Gateway  [ ] Router
Inter-VLAN Routing: [CHECK] Enable  [ ] Disable

Routing Table Entry List:
Destination LAN IP    Subnet Mask   Gateway   Interface
192.168.2.0      255.255.255.0        0.0.0.0      WAN
192.168.1.0      255.255.255.0        0.0.0.0      LAN
239.0.0.0         255.0.0.0                0.0.0.0      LAN
0.0.0.0             0.0.0.0                 192.168.2.1   WAN

I'm not sure exactly what to make of it, but my VOIP softphone was working before. I'm assuming the router was allowing me to bridge over to the 192.168.0.x network from the computer's 192.168.1.x. Can I add a routing table entry to allow my 192.168.1.149 computer to talk to 192.168.0.3 and vice-versa, or I try to dig up configuration software for my old TalkSwitch VOIP system (now called "Fortinet") and see if I can move it all over to the 192.168.1.x network.

NOTE: Before I changed my old router, even my printer that was on 192.168.0.4 was working. Therefore, whatever settings were in that router allowed 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x to connect to each other. I'm just trying to find the easiest way to do that again so my Softphone will work, otherwise I have to get another hardware VOIP phone and manually configure it, or try to switch my VOIP system over to 192.168.1.x by using an old WinXP machine to try to get in over the network and configure it.

[cdev]

"Fortinet" sounds like a firewall box to me, do you (or your "IT guy") subscribe to some kind of managed firewall service?

Looking at what you have got, is there any reason you gave him or her why you wanted 3 different subnets?

I dont want to confuse you even more than now. I would just do what I said before and put them all on the same subnet (which means that the first 3 numbers out of the 4 in the IPV4 address are the same , say 192.168.1, and the subnet mask is usually the same, 255.255.255.0 for all of the machines. One of them, usually the "router" is also the gateway box it can also  if its powerful enough, be a "firewall" that sort of filters out various kinds of junk.

Keep it simple, is a good way to approach networks, as much as possible.

unless there is a good reason not to, which there might be. You are just yourself and your home machines, and maybe your business, right?

Are there any parts that actually need to be separated?

Do you want to redo it to be as simple as possible, that gets the job done, if everything works then?

[mfro]

As it appears everything you have connected is on the same physical network (?) anyway, if you don't care about a messy setup, you might get away with setting up an alias interface in the 192.168.0.x network on the same interface your using for your 102.168.1.x address on the PC that has the softphone. No other changes required.

What OS are you on with that machine?

[edy]

"Fortinet" sounds like a firewall box to me, do you (or your "IT guy") subscribe to some kind of managed firewall service?

TalkSwitch was acquired by Fortinet in April 2011, and in 2012 its products are sold as the FortiVoice product line.

Looking at what you have got, is there any reason you gave him or her why you wanted 3 different subnets?

No reason that I can think of, it was just set up that way. I don't know why they did it.

Keep it simple, is a good way to approach networks, as much as possible.
Do you want to redo it to be as simple as possible, that gets the job done, if everything works then?

Yes I agree, if there is no other option then I would just try to move the VOIP box over to the 192.168.1.x address space and that's it. I have to boot up my old WinXP machine and try to connect to the configuration software. It is some horrible Java implementation and it will not work on newer OS's. And the company no longer supports this legacy system, especially with the company being bought.

As it appears everything you have connected is on the same physical network (?) anyway, if you don't care about a messy setup, you might get away with setting up an alias interface in the 192.168.0.x network on the same interface your using for your 102.168.1.x address on the PC that has the softphone. No other changes required.

What OS are you on with that machine?

I'm using Windows 10. Yes it is all the same physical network. I've attached a diagram (please look while reading paragraph below).


The whole office network is plugged into the same physical switch. All the computers can access a share folder on computer 1 (which is the machine I'm sitting on) which runs some software using SQL database stored on that machine. Everything works fine. All of the phones can access the TalkSwitch voice box (which is plugged into 3 physical telephone lines that enter the office - rollover lines for one main number).  The switch is connected to the router, which is connected to our Internet provider's Cable modem/Wifi box.

I am sitting at computer 192.168.1.149 which has the soft-phone which *was working previously*. Hence, I believe something was configured in the old router to allow the 0.x and 1.x networks to see each other.

Nevertheless, from any of the computers I can open a browser and go to 192.168.2.1 to get the configuration screens for my Internet cable modem/router/Wifi box (Hitron). It has DHCP and address range 192.168.2.10 to 192.168.2.200. This box has various port forward options. I used that to allow me to connect remotely using VNC because otherwise it won't see my computer from outside the net. I set up a port forward to my specific computer that has VNC (192.168.1.149) so I can log in remotely from home when I go to my work's IP address.

Next, I can also see the config page of my printer at 192.168.2.14 (WiFi connected printer), and also 192.168.1.4 (wired printer). The router config page I can see by visiting either 192.168.1.1, or 192.168.2.55 (which is what is attached to according to my internet cable/modem/wifi router.

All the VOIP phones and talkswitch boxes can communicate to each other, but I can't seem to get to them from 192.168.1.149. I wonder if I can set up a port forward or as you mentioned "alias" my Windows machine so that it also has a 192.168.0.x address.

[retiredcaps]

When troubleshooting this, ping, traceroute and arp are your friends in this exercise.

In order for 192.168.1.x to talk to 192.168.0.x, it needs to go something like this.

Your PC = 192.168.1.149/24
SIP server = 192.168.0.3/24

From your PC, ping 192.168.0.3 needs to contact it's default gateway (192.168.1.1.).  The router whose address is 192.168.1.1 needs to find the subnet 192.168.0 in its route table.  If the router has no interface defined as, for example, 192.168.0.1, then it needs to find 192.168.0 network somewhere in it's routing table (via RIP, OSPF, static route, etc).

In order for the SIP server to respond back to your PC, it needs a default gateway as well.  Let's assume it's 192.168.0.1.  If that IP address is not defined on the router, the SIP server won't be able to connect to anything other than what's on the 192.168.0 network.

BTW, I have a Hitron modem as well.  It's in bridge mode.  On the front of the Hitron modem, it's default IP address is 192.168.0.1.  If this is true in your environment, this might be causing some issues.

On Cisco routers, I know you can setup a single ethernet interface to have a "secondary" ip address.  Alternatively, you can setup 2 vlans on a single ethernet interface as long as both the swtich and router have this capability.

Other solutions as others already mentioned is to put everything on a single subnet.  The potential problem with that is your old SIP server might be exposed to more network traffic/malware/attacks then necessary.  For bigger corporations/networks, it's best to put the voice network on a separate subnet from the data network.

[mfro]

I'm using Windows 10. Yes it is all the same physical network. I've attached a diagram (please look while reading paragraph below).

For me, that looks as if your old router was capable/configured to route between the 192.168.0.1/24 and the 192.168.1.1/24 network and your new one isn't. Your switch is an unmanaged ("dumb") switch (i.e. there is nothing to configure), right?

Try the following on your Windows machine (I don't have Windows, so hopefully this will work):

Code: [Select]

netsh interface ipv4 show interface
(Note the interface name of your active ethernet interface)

Code: [Select]

netsh interface ipv4 set interface interface="<interface name>" dhcpstaticipcoexistence=enabled
netsh interface ipv4 add address "interface name" 192.168.0.xxx 255.255.255.0
This should allow to have a static alias IP adress on the same active interface, adds that alias address in your voice network and sets the address.

Good luck!

[edy]

Thank you for all the suggestions!

After considering all of your replies (aliasing, bridging, setting up 2 VLAN's, etc) I decided it was within my limited expertise to try and just move the VOIP system over to the 192.168.1.x network. Since it is a relatively small office I think keeping things simple is best.

So I dug out my old WinXP machine with the TalkSwitch configuration software on it and first tried to configure it over the network. No surprise, it couldn't find the VOIP Box. So instead I hooked in direct by USB connection to the back of the VOIP Box. Once I was connected and able to change its IP to 192.168.1.3, I  disconnected the USB and restarted the TalkSwitch software and it was able to find the VOIP box over the network! Progress!

After that, my Win10 computer's Softphone worked fine.... but all the physical VOIP phones were dead.    That's because they were all still configured on the 192.168.0.x net.

Turns out they all needed to have their configs reset manually at each phone. I didn't figure it out for a while and it was driving me nuts....      but eventually I found the menu entry on the phone that lets you reset the configuration. Otherwise every time I was changing the IP it was reverting back to the 192.168.0.x net. After factory resetting each phone's configuration, I was able to manually set on each phone the SIP and TFTP IP's to 192.168.1.3, and when rebooted they properly found the VOIP box and downloaded the settings.   

So now everything is working normally again. We had a few hours of silence and probably missed a bunch of calls (that went to voice mail) but finally resolving this saved my sanity.    One other thing is I realized a while ago when I upgraded my office to Win10 that certain software would no longer work (e.g. TalkSwitch configuration software) so I kept an old WinXP machine. I will probably virtualize it one day, try to make an image of the HDD, it will save having to physically pull an old computer and monitor out of the closet).