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hi there all,

in my company i have 2 different ISP (Canar and Sudatel). and they'r both wired into the LAN incase one of them is down. but everytime one is down, we have to change the IP addresses and Subnet mask to the other ISP in almost 100 PCs, and they'r all restricted users.
can anyone tell me if there's a solution for this, instead of changing IPs and subnets everytime one ISP is down?

thanks for your help.

The simplest solution would be to have a router between your network and the two ISP connections. Each PC could be given an internal IP address automatically by the router using DHCP. Each machines DNS and gateway would point to the router. Then, whenever you needed to change your connection settings you just do it on the router. Most have a nice Web interface now so you don't even need to plug in a serial cable and run terminal emulation software to make changes.

There is a 'no cost' alternative you might try but I am not 100% sure it would work for you or how reliable it would be. Its also an option if you don't want to switch everyone over to internal addresses. Windows XP and above can have alternate TCP/IP information. In XP you do the following:

- Open up your network properties ('Control Panel', 'Network Connections', right click 'Local Area Connection' and choose 'Properties')

- Click on 'Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)' and then the 'Properties' button.

- On the 'General' tab should be one lot of settings for one ISP. On the 'Alternative Configuration' tab you can enter the settings for the other ISP.

In theory if the PC cannot connect using the first settings it will use the alternative ones. I haven't tried this with two different ISPs so I cannot say for certain whether this will work. A router is the best option, but it might be worth a shot on a single machine first to try it out.