What does bridging a connection mean in winX ?

raafat

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HI guys can anyone help explain to me what does bridging a connection mean in winX ?
When i need ? when should i use what are the benefits of ?

thank you
 

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Hello raafat,

What is a network bridge?

A network bridge is software or hardware that connects two or more networks so that they can communicate.
People with home or small office networks generally use a bridge when they have different types of networks but they want to exchange information or share files among all of the computers on those networks.

Here's an example. Let's say you have two networks: in one, the computers are connected with cables; and in the other, the computers are connected using wireless technology. The wired computers can only communicate with other wired computers, and the wireless computers can only communicate with other wireless computers. With a network bridge, all of the computers can communicate with each other.

If you use the network bridge software built into Windows, you don't need to buy additional hardware.


Here's some more on this:

Network Bridge - Create or Delete - Windows 7 Help Forums

Network Bridge - Add or Remove Network Connections - Windows 7 Help Forums

Hope this helps, :)
Shawn
 

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Hi thank you for your reply... another question : if i have two NICs with these networks 192.168.1.0 192.168.2.0... Does bridging them enable people on those networkds to communicate with each other ?
 

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Hi thank you for your reply... another question : if i have two NICs with these networks 192.168.1.0 192.168.2.0... Does bridging them enable people on those networkds to communicate with each other ?

Those IP addresses are in two different subnets so it won't do what you want, the last octet is the one you use for this.

It's important to remember that bridging network connections cuts the bandwidth in half.

You would need to use 192.168.1.1/192.168.1.2/254 etc.
 

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Hi thank you for your reply... another question : if i have two NICs with these networks 192.168.1.0 192.168.2.0... Does bridging them enable people on those networkds to communicate with each other ?

Those IP addresses are in two different subnets so it won't do what you want, the last octet is the one you use for this.

It's important to remember that bridging network connections cuts the bandwidth in half.

You would need to use 192.168.1.1/192.168.1.2/254 etc.

Please can you explain your reply with more details ?

thank you
 

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I think it is supposed to work as you believe. I assume you can see both networks on your system, have you tried creating the Bridge yet?

There may be some confusion regarding segmented networks vs. bridged networks, but I am no networking expert and may be mistaken.

Edit: I just received my new motherboard, so one of the first things I might test is your situation. It does have wired and wireless NICs.
 

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Those IP addresses are in two different subnets so it won't do what you want, the last octet is the one you use for this.

Just for more clarity i meant two subnets... meaning i have two NICs one on this 192.168.1.0/24 network and another on this 192.168.2.0/24 network... Does bridging them enable people on those subnets to communicate with each other ?

Note : assume that i have set gateway of each subnet to be the NIC which i'm thinking about bridging
 

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I don't believe you can bridge different subnets using a NIC but feel free to experiment with the advanced IPv4 settings. You can set up a hosted wireless network or even better, a virtual router so you maybe could virtualize the routing to the other subnet, through I haven't messed with the virtual router software so not sure of it's limitations.

Virtual Router - Wifi Hot Spot for Windows 8, Windows 7 and 2008 R2 - Home

Normally you would have to route between those subnets using a router.

DHCP would only route to the gateway IP address in it's own address space so don't need to worry about that.

Depending on the firmware it should be fairly simple I would think. My D-Link DIR-655 has many different ways to set up routing but I couldn't give exact directions although the interface looks simple enough, the problem is that all firmware's have a different user interface so it depends. I really haven't messed with the route settings but it might be fun to experiment.
 

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It appears I was able to bridge two different subnets in Windows 8. I could not access the Internet connection from the second network, but I could access the computers on both networks.

It should be noted, that on my system, a bridging operation when undone, would leave the individual network adapters without the necessary protocols being selected. So you need to check the individual adapters after breaking down the bridge to make sure the correct protocols are selected.

Not sure if it was involved, but I did turn on the Virtulalization option in the Bios.

As with any networking configuration, it is hard to know whether certain devices need to be reset or rebooted. This is the basic reason I have a hard time learning about the subject. All I can suggest is, if it isn't working, try resetting everything.

If this isn't what you need, possibly some configuration of linked routers might work. I once used the LAN port of one router to connect to the WAN port of a second router. This allowed the second router to run as a separate subnet. I do not remember if both networks could see each other, but I may test it later.
 

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Virtual router is't what i'm looking for also it did't work correctly with me anyway...What's i'm lookin for is this :

If i have two NICs one on this subnet 192.168.1.0/24 and the other on 192.168.2.0/24 on the SAME PC how can i enable people on those subnets to communicate with each other ?


thank you
 

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Did you read post #10?
 

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Virtual router is't what i'm looking for also it did't work correctly with me anyway...What's i'm lookin for is this :

If i have two NICs one on this subnet 192.168.1.0/24 and the other on 192.168.2.0/24 on the SAME PC how can i enable people on those subnets to communicate with each other ?


thank you

I believe I have already explained that this is not possible, you need a router to create routes between subnets. No matter how many times you ask it won't change this fact. :)
 

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Raafat, I did not understand your reference to "Virtual Router" was meant to imply the bridging operation.

But if you need to use an external device, a router or possibly some other type of device may be needed, as chev65 mentions. Do you have two routers you could try? I have not yet set such a system up but could test if you wanted.
 

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  • OS
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    i7 3770K
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    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
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