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I have two separate networks I would like to join to a single Server 2012R2. One network has a router attached to a T1 line which has a fixed public IP address. This keeps an open FTP line to upload weather station data and webcam photos to several websites. The fixed IP is needed to keep the FTP open at all times. Presently this network is not connected to any storage server, but I would like to connect it to the 2012R2 Server as it has 15 TB of storage. (It was at one time) The data collecting devices are Raspberry Pi's and there are two PCs used to set up and maintain the RPi's. These have limited storage.The router on this network is the gateway and DNS.

The Server 2012R2 has multiple PC's connected to it and a separate Router that has no fixed public IP but does have a hi speed broadband connection. This network is a named domain. The router is the gateway and the Server is of course the DNS. The Server has two NICs, so I thought I might connect the other network to it so that the Server 2012R2 could act as a NAS and provide redundant data storage for the Raspberry Pi's. This would also allow access to the data from both networks. I have no need for these two networks to see each other (although it might prove useful). At one point everything had been on a single network,-the T1, so the address space is the same: 10.0.2.XXX on subnet 255.255.255.0

In my simple brain, I thought I would just configure the 2nd NIC on the Server to a separate subnet, like 255.255.0.0 or setup the two routers to separate IPV4 address spaces. DHCP is handled by each of the two Routers, but of course Server 2012R2 wants/needs to be the DNS Server. There is no need to provide a redundant internet connection. The Server is quite happy with it's broadband connection for cloud backup.

Would either of these approaches work?

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2 different IPV4 Address spaces will work, if your currently using a /24 mask(255.255.255.0) I'd stay with that and set up a 10.0.2.0 and 10.0.3.0 network. however if you use that approach you'll need to set up routes on the server 2012 machine to tell it how to reach the rpi's on the secondary network. while this would work it's kind of an odd configuration, is there any reason you can't just set up routing between the two networks?

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  • Many thanks for the reply. I don't really need the two networks to communicate with each other,-just the server. But each network has it's own Internet connection (T1 & Broadband), so I think that may pose a problem with just one server. I haven't had to use routing tables yet. What problem would that solve?
    – acatalano
    Nov 29, 2016 at 16:24
  • ok so the server can exist without a problem on both networks, you will however need to use a static IP rather than a DHCP address since only one of the ports can have a default gateway(you'll want that to be your inet port). as far as DNS goes you can pretty much set it to whatever you want/need once you switch to a static address(2012 does not require being a DNS server but it's a lot easier if it is a DC) with that done you should set up a custom route on the server instructing all traffic destined for the rpi network to go out NIC2. setting up routing would eliminate the need for NIC2. Nov 29, 2016 at 16:32
  • Well your suggestion worked very well, although it opens another question. I attached the 2 Server NICs to each of the two routers. One network is 10.0.1.0 the other 10.0.2.0. I setup at static route for 10.0.1.0 to that NIC, 10.0.1.2 Bothe Networks are now connected and can access computers on either network. Interestingly setting up a static route on either router (and joining them with a cable) did not. I guess everything is going through the Server. It became obvious when I used an IP search tool to map out the route.
    – acatalano
    Jan 4, 2017 at 15:45

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