Static Routing between 2 Linksys Routers

[FastSites]

I have a client with two separate offices. Each office directly connects to the Internet using a router. Each router LAN IP is set to 10.0.0.1 for one office and 10.0.1.1 for the other office. Both routers have a single static WAN IP address so the WAN connection is set to dynamic for BT to forward the static IP's correctly. There is no link between the two routers at present.

The routers are Linksys WAG160N's. Each router has the facility for 'Static Routing' under the Advanced Routing section. This allows me to insert the following:

1. Destination IP Address
2. Subnet Mask
3. Gateway
4. Hop Count

I was wondering if I can set-up a static route using this facility from one of the offices as follows:

1. 10.0.0.2 (Server static IP)
2. 255.255.255.0
3. Public WAN IP
4. 1

What I am trying to achieve is replicating files across the WAN for staff files / folders i.e. Staff create a word document in one office and that file is replicated at the other office over the WAN by the next day using DFS (Windows 2003 Standard R2 servers at each office).

Does anyone what what this static routing is actually used for and if so, can it be used for private static IP's over the WAN?

Many thanks

Dan

[YeOldeStonecat]

I haven't worked with that model over in the States...but a quick Google shows it to be a combo DSL modem/router.

The routing section you see is for when you have a large network setup with different IP ranges, you can have the router sitting between segments. It's usually either run it in gateway mode (as most people do with home grade routers), or segment your large network with it in router mode.

What you're looking for, the best approach is to use VPN tunnels between the two sites. Many different ways of approaching this, my preferred method is to use routers at each end up which support "router to router IPSec VPN tunnels". Example being Linksys/Cisco RV0 series.

To do this, you would want a standard DSL modem on the WAN/Internet interface of your router, not a combo modem/router like you have. From what I saw on a quick glimpse that WAG160N model, I don't see it supporting VPN tunnels, only passthrough.

[FastSites]

Thanks YeOldeStonecat,

You are absolutely correct! The existing routers only allow VPN passthrough.

Thanks for explaining about the Static Routes though. Although your answer was clear, it dosn't help me I am afraid in achieving my clients goal.

Does anyone else know of any software that can synchronise files between two destinations over the WAN i.e. via FTP or using DFS perhaps?

Thanks again.

Dan

[YeOldeStonecat]

May be worth your time to check with the ISP and see what options are available to get pure bridged DSL modems and utilize your own routers that support router to router tunnels. An initial cost up front, but once installed...that's it, now you can use existing servers to do DFS through a secure VPN tunnel. Many ISP supplied combo modem/routers allow you to disable the router component..effectively reconfiguring them as a pure bridged modem that you can put your own router behind. I'm not familiar with your WAG160N models to know if they support that.

Versus looking to pay a monthly cost for a 3rd party offsite synch.