A bit of networking for you...

Hi,

This is what i would call a fairly advanced networking problem.

I have a problem with a network that i have created at home. I have 5 machines currently the setup is like this:

A web router/gateway connects 4 of the 5 machines to the internet (regular ISP connection).

On the 5th machine it is part of a corporate VPN and has its own router which is used to connect to the corporate network on demand.

My problem is i have a machine setup to store backups from ideally all of the computers. The problem is machine 5 only has 1 ethernet card in it which is used by the VPN router (on demand connection).

Currently to backup i have to unplug the VPN router and plug in a cable for my home network, then do the backup. Does anyone know of a way in which i can both connect to the VPN and have access to my home network on the same machine? (Without having to manually change cables when i want to backup?)

Ive been racking my brain with this and cannot find a solution.

Any tips are really helpful...


P.S Machine 5 is a company machine and they would not allow me to fit another ethernet card.

Thanks

Andrew

Hello

One thing you could do is usb a usb to ethernet adaptor, you plug it into your usb port and you have one more ethernet port. they are available from most pc suppliers.

I was thinking that I have also been told that I might need another switch (plug the switch into computer 5 and then have the VPN router plugged into the switch with the home network cable in the switch). If i get a Ethernet -> USB adapter does anyone think I will have much trouble getting it to work on WinXP? Ive heard (from a possibly unreliable source...) that having multiple Ethernet connections confuses windows Xp Pro....

Any more suggestions would be appreciated.

Andy