router questions and servers

[dj2501]

im looking to be running two server machines both off of the same connection, both as http servers.

my router only lets me port forward a port to one ip on the lan though

so i dont know how i could set it up to port forward 80 to both machines which have different lan ips. anybody know how to get around this?

 

[Law]

Well the first thing that pops in my head was to give the 2nd HTTP server a different default port. You know how all HTTP server should use port 80? Well you can change it to 8080 and use port forwarding to direct this port to that 2nd HTTP server. But of course the user would have to specify this in the URL like http:\\111.111.111.111:8080 because the web browser will try connecting to port 80 by default which will redirect them to the 1st HTTP server.

A second option would be registering for another IP address and using dynamic DNS service to link the IP address. So you'll have two URL, www.firstwebserver.com and www.secondwebserver.com both will be using port 80, but the dynamic DNS service will direct it to the correct HTTP server, being that both HTTP server are in the DMZ and not behind the NAT/firewall device.

There might be another way, but just can't think of more things. Might have to get back to you later, or someone with a better idea could help you out.

 

[dj2501]

well the thing is my router DMZ only lets me specify one ip on the network

 

[Law]

Well you can leave one behind the NAT router and use port forwarding for that one, then you can put the 2nd one in the DMZ so you don't have to port forward. They will both be using port 80 but you will need two IP address then register both with a dynamic DNS service, so you'll have two URL.

An example if you have a cable Internet, is to buy another IP, so you'll have two. Connect a switch to the cable modem, connect the 2nd HTTP server to the switch (it will get a global IP) then connect the router to the switch (router will get the second IP) then the 1st HTTP server to the router.

Then get a URL for both IP.

Another solution is to put both HTTP server on the DMZ, that would mean connecting both the HTTP servers to the switch. But you'll need 3 IP, two for the HTTP servers and one for your router.

Maybe there's a better solution but I can't think of it right now.