Multiple internet Connections on the same PC

[Flame10]

Currently I've 2 kind of net connections, 1 one is high speed with monthly data limit and 2 another one lower speed yet unlimited data capability.

I want to use 1 limited connection for browsing and other stuff
and the 2 unlimited connection for p2p apps, I use emule a lot.

I can happily connect to both connections as 1 is connected to my LAN card and 2 to USB. But I am unable to set the 2 connection for emule, I mean I cannot find any settings in emule to use a specific connection.

Any tools, fix or ideas for doing this..

[unmei]

I don't know emule, but in programs that allow you to specify the connection to use, this is sometimes called binding to a specific IP address. If you find such a setting, simply enter the IP to use - what connection is what can be found with with the command line program "ipconfig" (start -> run.. -> "cmd" -> "ipconfig" ).


A more obscure way but that is program independent would be to block the emule port for the unwanted connection with your firewall, thus forcing emule to use the other -*if it even sees it*. No idea if that works, but to me it seems it could :)

[Shinigami-Sama]

if you're using windows its impossible without hacking your tcp/ip system files, windows only allows one defualt gateway, and to have two connections to the net you need one gateway for each connections, so the best bet is to buy a lil POS PC that they just about give away now at big stores like futureshop and and such, then set it to use the slower connection

[foxyshadis]

Not true, it's quite easy to have multiple default gateways on a single connection, and easier with multiple connections, but you have to play with the command-line tool route.exe to force specific ports/ips to specific connections, though even then you'll probably end up with accidental overlap.

It'd probably be easier to get a cheap dual-wan router that can handle all the messy work without needing a hefty reconfigure every time your IP changes (besides, an external firewall is a lot saner than two directly connected internet lines on a windows box).

[Doom9]

with the command-line tool route.exe to force specific ports/ips to specific connections,ports? That would be news to me.. you can route only by IP. Plus, P2P means the endpoint on the other side always changes.. so the only way to sanely handle that is with default gateways. Most software out there is completely connection unaware and uses the default gateway for communication.
And most consumer routers are not capable of the advanced per protocol routing required here.. I've yet to see one that even handles two separate connections concurrently.. all I've come across are routers that support trafic redirect to another IP in case your primary Internet connection goes down.

And Windows quite happily supports multiple default getways.. you can have one for each interface on your machine. But that won't do you any good unless the application you're using is connection aware and can make sure it uses only a certain interface for communication.. that would effectively trigger the proper default route.

[jggimi]

I can build a custom firewall/router operating system and software package that will redirect by network application (protocol/port), do traffic shaping, and protect your Windows PC or a complete home network from the nasty script kiddies out there. I can make it an .iso you can download to installation media (like a CD), and have it run on any architecture you like ... i386, macppc, sparc, alpha, mac68k, amd64, sparc64, vme and vax systems, etc.

It just wouldn't be a Windows OS.

If you have a spare old technology PC or Mac or something lying around that you haven't yet sold on eBay, it would be trivial to set up -- assuming it had connection hardware to your two ISPs.

[Doobie]

Currently I've 2 kind of net connections, 1 one is high speed with monthly data limit and 2 another one lower speed yet unlimited data capability.

Even things that are theortically possible can be practically impossible. What you want is probably one of these things.

You could go with a two-PC solution. This is a good excuse to buy a cool, new PC if the one you have now is old. Or, get an old PC (you probably could get one for free as most people have old, unused PCs laying around, these days). Use the slow, unlimited connection on the old PC. A second PC is also handy just for any type of number crunching, such as encoding videos, that you don't want to tie up your main PC with.

What is this slow connection? Dial-up? The cost of an extra phone line and a dialup account is pretty expensive. Why don't you take that same money and upgrade your high-speed connection?

[foxyshadis]

A whole PC doing the work of a router offends my sensibilities; use a linksys wireless thing and flash your favorite linux firmware on it (as opposed to the crippled linksys-provided one). You don't even need dual-wan, as long as the modems are on different gateways plugging both into the hub and routing in software should work. Unless you're pumping 100m+ traffic over your wan the cpu should keep up. I suppose linksys enthusiast sites should be consulted first.

Less noise, wasted power, and wasted space that way. I suppose if you have a whole PC lying around and don't care about long-term costs it's fine. (Especially if you then use it as a fileserver.)

And yeah, I was wrong about the capabilities of route, I must have used something else when I needed port-level direction. No idea what though now. :(

[Tuesday]

Hey, im in a similar situation to the original poster.

I have access to our uni network which is 100mb but only allows ports 80 21 and 25 and an unrestricted 2mb ADSL connection.

The adsl connection runs through some crappy no-name router/modem box and to use the university lan you have to setup each program to use their webcache.

Using route.exe to set gateways windows can handle this fine, the following command did it for me, but i have to admit i don't entirely understand this network-magic.

route add <uni dhcp server IP> mask 255.255.0.0 <uni NIC IP> -p
route add <uni webcahe IP> mask 255.252.0.0 <uni NIC IP> -p

[jggimi]

A whole PC doing the work of a router offends my sensibilities...I can understand that sentiment. A workstation with monitor, harddrives, and the like can certainly draw too much power. For reducing power, heat, and space, one can put the monitor, keyboard, hard drives, and other unneeded hardware up for sale on eBay. :)

Many people use USB-stick or CF for storage on such devices, to reduce power consumption.

Soekris and other companies make special use extra-low-power consumption PCs for applications like this.

But as I already mentioned, this proposed platform would be more than a NAT router. Traffic shaper, firewall, Intrusion Detection System... lets call it a "Network Director" instead. :) ...use a linksys wireless thing and flash your favorite linux firmware on it... This would be similar to what I proposed, except that these devices have limited connectivity options. Flame10 described two ISPs, one with Ethernet, the other ... USB. I'm not sure how easy it would be to support the latter with Linksys hardware. Even if both ISPs were Ethernet, would a Linksys box be able to manage three distinct subnets -- the two ISPs, and Flame10's PC? AFAIK, these are designed for two subnets -- WAN and LAN....(Especially if you then use it as a fileserver.)... I would recommend against this, as it eliminates a layer of security.

[foxyshadis]

Yeah, a low-power small PC would be perfect (like my AXP server that spends most of its time drawing <50W, thanks to c&q and no perephrials). You can bind several networks to one network port, so even a gateway server could be safely used as an internal and/or external server, if the firewall and daemons were properly configured. (One of those "get a guru to do it" situations if you aren't though.)