Question for you network administrators.
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#1: Question for you network administrators. Author: Abram, Location: Fort McMurray, AB PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:55 am
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Okay. I consider myself pretty good at sorting this stuff out, but this one has me stumped. I know we ahve some network administrators her, so here goes:

The house I'm in has 2 ISPs providing service. One for me, one for the rest of the house.  I wish to share media between the two. Each connection has a dedicated wireless N gigabit router, and I will have a spare router before long, which I'm planning to use as a repeater. Unless I find a better use for it - such as solving the problem to follow:

There's my LAN, which I'll call LAN1. My HTPC - containing all my media -  is hardwired to LAN1, and has no wireless (though I DO have a spare 802.11N card, if the need arises) and the other, we'll call LAN2, is hardwired to the large media source via hardwire. This second source also has a wireless card. I can pull media from LAN2 (via wireless) to LAN1 (hardwired) easily enough, but the part that's been tough is getting the Boxee, hardwired to LAN2, to pull media from my HTPC on LAN1, while only connecting to LAN2, directly. The Boxee is certainly able to switch to wireless to access LAN1 easily, but I'd rather have the Boxee see all media without having to switch connections.

At first, I was hoping to Map the shared drives on LAN1 on the media source on LAN2, and share that mapped drive so LAN1 (and the Boxee) could see it. Turns out, I cannot find a way to share that mapped network drive. Shortcut links to the LAN1 network drives are not seen my the Boxee. The Boxee has to see my HTPC hsared drives/folders as actual folders. LAN1 runs on a Dlink DIR-825 with DD-Wrt firmware (which is awesome, btw), and LAN2 runs on a horrid CISCO modem/router. LAN1 will be using an ASUS RT-N56U in the next few weeks.

So, any ideas?  I'm aware that I would be able to have a single SSID for all routers, but i wish to keep the outside traffic separate. Although I have 2x 100-foot ethernet cables, I'd really rather not have to drill 10 holes through the house to achieve this Great Share.

The wired connection on the LAn2 media source stays connected to the WAN, while its' wireless will stay connected to LAN1 wirelessly.

Is there a remedy? Can I share mapped network shares from LAN1, on the media source for LAN2, and have teh Boxee see the media from LAN1? Is this all to convoluted?

No NAS (this is on my lsit, tough(, adn both media sources are running Windows 7. The Boxee runs a version of Android, but it's not capable of doing much: like running both LAN and WLAN together.
#2: Re: Question for you network administrators. Author: tet, Location: Washington PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:39 am
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Symlinks could be worth a shot.

http://www.tested.com/tech/windows/39-using-symlinks-in-windows-for-fun-and-profit/
#3: Re: Question for you network administrators. Author: Abram, Location: Fort McMurray, AB PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:21 pm
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Ooooo so close, yet so far. I was able to create a few Symlink-ed folders, and the Boxee saw them.... but only the folders, and not the video files. I tried all symink types. Oh well.

But, i did find out how to connect the two LANs via hardwire, and using some batch files to keep the outside traffic seperate, that I can make run at startup of hte to-be 'slave' router. But it'll involve moving the LAN2 modem/router down a floor, and a single hole in my room.

Pretty neat trickery, though. I also found a MS tool that allows setting up those symlink with clicks instead of typing it all in manually:  http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

Thanks, Tettybear.

PS - I should add that those LAN1-router1-wireless-LAN2 symlinks would've worked fine is the eventual target was another PC ( my laptop, in this case). It just seems that the Boxee has problems with them.  The Boxee is already as updated as it can be, without using Beta software. I'm not about to start installing custom firmware or hacked Os'es on it. If it was mine, I'd do it in a second.

But the research is nto over. If i find a better solution that involves moving hardware and drilling, i'll update this thread.

Sheesh. It's hard out there for a nerd.
#4: Re: Question for you network administrators. Author: tet, Location: Washington PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 3:19 pm
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I don't see much info regarding Boxee boxes and symlinks, it might be that you would have to make a symlink for every single file.  However, putting a symlink INSIDE of a symlink can be a very bad idea.

Edit: Symlinks to the media files in a folder on the Boxee box itself might do the trick?  I honestly am not sure, I use a dedicated media center with XMBC. All the drives with media are in that since it is a mid tower case.

Edit 2: For your metadata - http://www.mediacentermaster.com/
#5: Re: Question for you network administrators. Author: DELETED, Location: Thunder Bay, ON Canada PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:11 pm
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You lost me at "Okay" ............  Embarassed
#6: Re: Question for you network administrators. Author: MisterD, Location: Scorched, AZ PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 7:44 pm
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My brain hurts after reading this thread.  I'm always impressed with Abram and tet and their knowledge of this and many subject matters.
#7: Re: Question for you network administrators. Author: Abram, Location: Fort McMurray, AB PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 9:29 pm
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The Boxee has no media on or directly connected t it. Only remote media.  Yes, a real PC s the way to go  as always, but they're inept when it come to computer use, and I picked the Boxes for them. Maybe I'll build them a mini PC for a birthday or something...

Last edited by Abram on Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
#8: Re: Question for you network administrators. Author: Firecrackr1, Location: Haddon Twp. NJ PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:04 pm
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I agree MisterD, I have no clue.
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