Common Problem (Surely)

[ccannon88567]

In my day to day administration, over the years I have come across what must be a pretty common issue for hands on network engineers.

That issue is logging onto multiple devices when they have been taken off the production environment network.

For example, to telnet onto a PIX that was on a different Subnet I would use a cross over for a direct connection, however, I would then need to change my laptop (MS XP) TCP/IP settings from DHCP to a fixed IP that is on the same subnet of the PIX.

This can get monotonous day in day out as in an XP operating system there is no way to pre-store multiple subnet IP's and just quickly switch between them as and when required.

Has anybody come across any software that lets you store multilpe TCP/IP info and lets you quickly switch between DHCP and other multiple subnet IP's with just a few clicks rather than having to enter all the info every time?

I am using Microsoft XP for my Administration duties.

Thanks.

[hobbe]

This is what I think is a quite nice solution for many problems like this.

Lets just pretend the devices are all in a server/Com room of a modest size.

I would then take one computer and add a multi comport device such as a usb - 8 serial interface or more if needed.

Add the serial interfaces to that computer. then you can have a software icon for each of the devices and use the CLI as a out of bands connection.

If you would like to you can then connect to that computer via remote desktop and manage most of the systems "out of bands".

Yes I am a cli head.

IF you want to show off a little then you could make a serial split connection for the send side so you can recieve at another computer also, and from that computer you can run something like the kiwi harvester and send the inkomming serial messages via ethernet to a syslog server.

perfect for use in very closed environment to add a switch with access-lists and to do logging on the access-list to se if someone starts scanning in the dmz or access restricted ports.

A word of warning though, logging to a slow serial connection could clogg down the device so be careful.

oh I almost forgot.

the software for using different ip that you asked for exists in the ibm (lenovo) thinkpad series where you can set a number of places to use the computer, each with a different ip setup.

most likely there are others out there.

good luck

[adamclarkuk_2]

Hi

You can assign multiple IP's in XP under the advanced tab and multiple gateways. Could you not just have 2 NICS, one set for DHCP and the other with all the IP's/subnets that you need ?

[Peter010101 · Accepted solution]

Check this URL out http://www.itsyourip.com/networking/how-to-add-multiple-ip-address-in-windows-2000xp2003/

[ccannon88567]

Thanks for all the replys guys, very helpfull.

I like the idea for an NMS with the usb serial connector :)

I can get a usb second NIC for my laptop and use that for storing multiple IP's under the advanced tab. I will keep my onboard NIC for DHCP.

One thing though, under the multiple gateways tab. Is this multiple gateways, each one for a different subnet or can this be used for multiple gateways within the same subnet as well - as such like a work around where HSRP/VRRP/GLBP may not be supported?

[adamclarkuk_2]

You can put one in for each subnet or mulitple on the same subnet and it should change with XP's Fail-back DG Support

Fail-back Support for Default Gateway Changes

In TCP/IP for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP, when dead gateway detection changes the default gateway, the new default gateway remains the primary gateway for default route traffic until dead gateway detection switches to the next one in the list (cycling through the list of default gateways) or until the computer is restarted. Therefore, dead gateway detection in TCP/IP for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP provides a fail-over function, but not a fail-back function.

[dmooreami]

How about a IP switcher

http://www.eusing.com/ipswitch/free_ip_switcher.htm

Don't waste your time reconfiguring computer network settings every time you change your location. Free IP Switcher is a perfect solution for you. It switches between preconfigured network settings with a single click and without any reboot. With Free IP Switcher you can automatically change all network settings on your pc: IP address, network masks, default gateway, DNS server, wins server, proxy settings, default printer and more.

[gnijs · Accepted solution]

The solution exists on standard XP and is called "netsh". Just type it in in cmd.exe.

Using the "dump" option, you can export your network settings. Then you can change the settings and dump another setting. You can create standard .bat files with different network configs and put shortcuts on your desktop. Clicking on these .bat files, will playback a dumped configuration and changes your network settings on the fly (even from dhcp to static).

More info see:

http://www.petri.co.il/configure_tcp_ip_from_cmd.htm