Connect 2 PC's on different networks but in the same room

Dear Linux users,

In short my question is: how can I connect two computers which are connected to different corporate networks but which are in the same room.

At my office I have a desktop and a laptop. The laptop is connected to my work's network via an ethernet cable in a wall socket. My desktop is connected to the network of another organization which is in the same building via an ethernet cable in another wall socket. This is so because I need access to both networks. However, I want to exchange files between the two computers, and also run commands from one on the other. I would prefer to do this through SSH.

What is the best way to achieve this?

The laptop has WiFi and my work provides wireless access to its network. The desktop lacks bluetooth. Both my computers run OpenSuse 12.1.

Thank you for any suggestions.

Daan

Can't you also connect your laptop to the wall socket of the other company and use it's wireless for your work?

It depends on how the corporate networks are configured. If it's one company I would expect one network to be accessible from another. However, if the routing between those is disabled, you will need some kind of tunneling, vpn, etc.

Balda

Thanks rukiaEnix and Balda.

The two networks belong to different organizations and there is no direct access from one to the other. That's why the IT guys switched one wall socket to connect to the other organization's network. I was looking to set up SSH tunnelling, but because both networks are behind a firewall, this would require a computer in the middle (e.g. my home computer) and that wouldn't be very efficient when transferring large files.

Connecting both PC's to the other network and use the wireless for my organization's network might be a good option. I could ask the IT guys to also change the connection of the other wall socket. One question I have though: how do control which network interface is used for which task? For instance, I would use ssh to transfer files from my laptop to desktop through the wired connection, but I would have to use the wireless for access to certain file servers.

Thanks, Daan

The routing table specifies on which interface the other organization's network can be reached. For instance:

Code:

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route add -net 192.56.76.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev wlan0

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or

Code:

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route add -host 192.56.76.106 dev wlan0

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assuming the IP address of the computer in the other organization is 192.56.76.106 and your wireless interface is wlan0.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daan

The two networks belong to different organizations and there is no direct access from one to the other. That's why the IT guys switched one wall socket to connect to the other organization's network.

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And this statement is the reason why you should not be doing what you are trying to do. Knowing this is enough to get you fired once it come to light what you are doing. The connection between the two is down for a reason and if you really think you need to do this then you should really be talking with your IT about it and have them setup this connection securely. Also connecting these two network could be a breach of contract and your company could lose both contracts and/or be sued. I would highly recommend you talk with IT and Security before you do this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daan

how do control which network interface is used for which task?

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I think you can do it configuring manually your network configuration file.

Lazydog, I doubt they would fire me if I did make a networked connection between the two computers, but of course I do not want to frustrate the efforts of any IT department, so I'll talk to them before I make a connection.

But what then is a convenient way to exchange files between the two computers? A USB stick?

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Originally Posted by Daan

Lazydog, I doubt they would fire me if I did make a networked connection between the two computers,

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Then you would have a VERY forgiving company. Most companies would fire you on the spot. This would be a breach of trust which most companies would not recover from once the word got out. I would fire you for sure. It would not matter how well you protected the networks from one another.

Quote:

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but of course I do not want to frustrate the efforts of any IT department, so I'll talk to them before I make a connection.

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This has more to do with business ethics then frustration.

Quote:

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But what then is a convenient way to exchange files between the two computers? A USB stick?

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Until a better way of doing things is provided, yes.

Did you configure manually your network configuration files?