Multi-homed XP (XP SP1)

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Please forgive me if this is in wrong forum…

I need to use videoconferencing at my work and due to our firebox (Watchguard), it doesn’t support inbound videoconferencing calls and I require inbound calls rather than outbound. Our IT consultant came up with a great idea of multihoming, one NIC would go through our firewall as part of normal LAN traffic via trusted zone and second NIC would go through the Optional port (DMZ) which would allow inbound videoconferencing only.

The problem here is that my Netmeeting still insists on using my “internal” NIC to do the videoconferencing and it is not working at all. I’ve tried this solution on 5 different machines and all five works perfectly fine (over one year) except for my machine! I’ve reinstalled XP, moved to different network jacks, etc. to no avail.

Anyone has a clue how to force XP to route outbound/inbound videoconferencing calls through a specific NIC at Netmeeting level?

Thanks.

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Just to make sure: are you saying that the hardware configurations on all the other 5 machines are exactly the same as yours? Alternatively, you could try a low cost alternative to NetMeeting – such as SquidCam.

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All five machines are all completely different, and yet all five is able to accept inbound calls except mine.

I’ve been playing with this computer for a good while and even brought it to a different subnet and noticed that it works fine on other subnets, but not on this one…Maybe, I need to reconfigure the firebox DMZ?

Brent

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All five machines are all completely different, and yet all five is able to accept inbound calls except mine.

I’ve been playing with this computer for a good while and even brought it to a different subnet and noticed that it works fine on other subnets, but not on this one…Maybe, I need to reconfigure the firebox DMZ?

Brent

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If you know the IP address of the system you will be calling then you can use the ROUTE command in a Command window to add route(s) to the specific address(es).

ROUTE ADD target.address MASK 255.255.255.255 interface.address
would tell windows to route all packets to target.address via the nic who’s address is interface.address

StuartR

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Nice idea. I had added persisent routes only for the internal NIC, I never thought of using it to add Internet…I should set up a persisent route to the gateway (the DMZ IP address) correct?

Thanks in advance.

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I think you should set up a persistent route via the correct NIC to the target system. The gateway should be configured as the default gateway for that NIC.

StuartR

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That might be difficult because the forementioned videoconferencing calls are actually Video Relay Services…A public service where I go to a webpage and “request” an interpeter via Netmeeting and then the interpreter “call” me via Netmeeting (I don’t know why this has to happen this way) and then I make a phone call. Check out: http://www.usavrs.com if you are interested.

The biggest problem is that they have a “pool” of interpreters, so I don’t even know what specific IP address I should create in the routing table. Hence, my problem here….I need to somehow to tell my Windows XP to always use my “external” NIC whenever I access Internet via DMZ. What makes this problem so perplexing is that I have already set up 5 machines similiar to mine and all 5 works off the bat without any special configuration. Yet, mine wouldn’t even work the way other 5 machines does.

Brent

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Strange, have you done anything on your other PCs to tell them which interface should be used for what purpose?

I suspect those PCs might be sending ALL their packets via the DMZ interface.

StuartR

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Good question. I’ll check others and see if I can find anything different in their routing tables.

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Good question. I’ll check others and see if I can find anything different in their routing tables.

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Strange, have you done anything on your other PCs to tell them which interface should be used for what purpose?

I suspect those PCs might be sending ALL their packets via the DMZ interface.

StuartR

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That might be difficult because the forementioned videoconferencing calls are actually Video Relay Services…A public service where I go to a webpage and “request” an interpeter via Netmeeting and then the interpreter “call” me via Netmeeting (I don’t know why this has to happen this way) and then I make a phone call. Check out: http://www.usavrs.com if you are interested.

The biggest problem is that they have a “pool” of interpreters, so I don’t even know what specific IP address I should create in the routing table. Hence, my problem here….I need to somehow to tell my Windows XP to always use my “external” NIC whenever I access Internet via DMZ. What makes this problem so perplexing is that I have already set up 5 machines similiar to mine and all 5 works off the bat without any special configuration. Yet, mine wouldn’t even work the way other 5 machines does.

Brent

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Nice idea. I had added persisent routes only for the internal NIC, I never thought of using it to add Internet…I should set up a persisent route to the gateway (the DMZ IP address) correct?

Thanks in advance.

Reply | Quote

If you know the IP address of the system you will be calling then you can use the ROUTE command in a Command window to add route(s) to the specific address(es).

ROUTE ADD target.address MASK 255.255.255.255 interface.address
would tell windows to route all packets to target.address via the nic who’s address is interface.address

StuartR

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