How to allocate External IP's

[dwright]

I have 10 computers all connected on a network in my office. Each computer runs the same software program, which will only run effectively if each computer has a unique external ip address and default gateway. I have a BT Business Broadband connection, which provides me with 10 unique external IP addresses. Is it possible to allocate a different IP and different Default Gateway to all of these machines with only 1 Router?

I have considered hiring 10 broadband connections and buy 10 routers, so each computer had it's own isolated internet set up, but that would be very expensive.

I've also considered hiring 10 VPN's from 10 different locations, but that wouldn't allow me much control over the computers hardware as I'm not physically there.

Does anyone have a better solution.

 

[evan.briggs]

I think you have already said your answer. Im tracking that will have to be seperate and you will most likely need 10 different routers. What kind of router do you have?

 

[Celegorm]

Some modem/router combos from ISPs have this functionality built right in. Are you using a standard home/office consumer router or something from your ISP?

 

[dwright]

I'm using a very basic router that would have been supplied probably 5 or 6 years ago by my ISP.

Even if I were to buy a very sophisticated router with lots of functionality for assigning unique IP addresses and unique default gateways to each computer, wouldn't the outside world first of all see this one router, which would then lead them to the 10 computers?

If this were the case, my computers would not be appearing to be totally unrelated. Are these sophisticated routers able to show the outside world 10 different external ip addresses leading to each computer, and not give away that they are all behind one router?

 

[Celegorm]

I've done something like this for a friend at their hair salon. ATT provided a router that allowed me to say this computer gets IP 1, the other computer gets IP 2, and this printer gets IP 3. The outside world would look at the IP, not the router.

Your best bet is to start with your ISP and see what they have since this isn't a normal function that you're looking for.

 

[root]

What router do you have? unless it's a decent configurable one you're possibly unable to do this on the equipment that you currently have.

I'm seeing it like this.

Your buy ten routers solution is probably, (for a basic user) the cheapest and easiest solution. routers are like £20, so ten will cost £200, even if you double that to £400 it's still cheaper to buy and easier to set up than a new router from Cisco.

There is also a realistic possibility that even if you bought just a router you may also need a new decent and configurable switch to get this all working as well...

I know it's not the answer you're looking for, but in the cheap / fast / reliable you only get to pick 2



Why does the software actually need a dedicated external IP address, it might be that you're trying to fix the problem in the wrong way! it might be easier to configure the application differently than it would be to give all the machines external addresses, (I assume you mean give the actual PC an external connection and address. have you thought about firewalls etc? a PC connected directly to the internet is not something that I'd like to support on a regular basis.