Not sure if there is a name for this setup?
So, I want to achieve something particular regarding my home network.
I want to have 2 routers, one is my main router that everything connects to except for my devices where I stream things from, and when it comes to streaming devices, I want those to use a different router that plugs into the main router
Why? I have been selected for the focalmeter panel and that device is connected to a router to
- intercept all packets going to the router it is setup with
- replaces the hostnames of all the devices with a random selection of letters (think HH123-4) and I don't want that to happen with my servers. (aka it takes over the DHCP service on the router)
part 1 kinda bothers me but 2 is such a nuisance for when I am doing SSH, So my solution is to get a secondary router for the "streaming" part of my network, hook that router up to my main router and then let the focalmeter take over the DHCP service of that secondary router and so everything it does impacts only the streaming part of my network. Like the focalmeter could literally fuck up the secondary router and my servers and machines I use for non-streaming reasons would not be affected in any way.
My streaming devices need to be able to access my servers to be able to access my jellyfin but that's the only necessary connection I can think of atm. Although it would be nice if I can have the devices on my main network access my streaming devices over the network too.
All that to say, when looking up how to get 2 routers work side-by-side like that with both their DHCP services up and running but not conflicting, I dont really know what to look for. Am I trying to setup a subnet or is there some other word for the network architecture I am trying to achieve?
Double NAT is the first phrase that jumps to mind. It should, in theory, just work.
The second router is just another client on your network. Set it to a fixed IP address in your primary router so it doesn't float around your network, maybe VLAN its traffic, and you'll be gold.
I do this with all the "smart" devices that only support old 2.4 standards with an WRT54G.
I have done this in the past, and yeah, it mostly just works.
What double NAT wouldn't allow out of the box is access from the main network to the streaming devices. For that, either:
Still theoretically doable, but a little more involved than "it just works."
Yea the best would probably be no second NAT and dividing up with a firewall and subnets, but I'm doubting the device in question will play nice if it doesn't find itself fully isolated.
Port forwards are the best compromise there IMO.