Router – 5 external static IPs, easy and cost-effective way to use them

internetroutersmall-business

I'm moving from one ISP, who provided a managed router that took care of things like port forwarding IPs, to a new one that does not.

So, currently I have a single, inexpensive Linksys router configured for one of my 5 external IPs and it's all working fine. However, I'd like to have one of the other external IPs go to another machine.

Is this as simple as inserting a switch between the router and the modem, and then plugging another router into that switch? What configuration settings would I need to do in order to ensure that computers plugged into one router could talk to computer plugged into the other router?

Alternately, is there a reasonably inexpensive (< $400ish) small business type router that could support multiple IPs and port forwarding (ideally with a web based interface, though that's more of a nice-to-have)?

Thanks!

Best Answer

I would look into pfsense. It's free...just need a computer with 2 but preferably 3 nic's so you can setup a DMZ for your public facing systems. You can also purchase one of these for about $210 with pfsense preloaded.

There are other options too if you're looking for something that's rackmounted. The Supermicro SC510 is a nice 1U case that is perfect for pfsense if you need more cpu power or want more features than a small embedded device offers.

Also to deal with multiple IP's what you need to do is to setup VIP's for each of the public IP addresses. Then you use 1:1 NAT or port forwarding to pass the traffic from each VIP to the appropriate IP on the DMZ. Network diagram would look something like this.

Internet--pfsense--DMZ Interface--DMZ Switch--(computers with public IPs)
              |
        LAN Interface
              |
          LAN Switch
              |
        LAN computers
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