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In work we have equipment pc's that is segrgated to the company network because the machine makers pc standard never matches the comapny requirements and validation activities render it impossible to keep updating the machine pc.

If we have a problem and have to get a vendor to remote in - then we have to setup a desktop pc with 2 Ethernet cards on different IP addresses - This PC acts as a bridge across the two networks that an external vendor can remote into and look at their machine and fix the problem.

If there was a magic box that could plug into a USB port on my work laptop providing me with dual addressable IP addresses then it would save so much time and effort.

Any ideas ???

Hennes
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Richard Connell
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  • how is the physical media connected? your issue isn't that you can't have multiple IPs (you can always add a second IP to a NIC), but that the cable plugged into that nic goes to a network where the second IP isn't valid. how did you imagine your device would address that? – Frank Thomas Jun 15 '15 at 21:53
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    Would a USB ethernet dongle not suffice? – txtechhelp Jun 15 '15 at 21:57
  • If a desktop works with 2 nics, there is no reason not to use the same way on laptops. Perhaps, even better, you don't have to buy a new USB NIC because laptops usually have two NICs by default - "WiFi" + "Wired", which means most laptops are ready to get two different physical IP addresses already, except for some more-portable ones without the wired port. – Scott Rhee Jun 16 '15 at 02:06

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If you needed one more ethernet port? Get a USB-> ethernet adaptor. If you needed 2? Get 2 (and/or a USB hub). The USB 2.0 ones are restricted to fast ethernet, and won't quite hit those speeds. There's also gig-e/USB3.0 ones which I've not tried before that should at least do better than fast ethernet speeds. These are bus powered devices and the better ones have a length of cable from the USB so shouldn't get in the way. It won't be as fast as a regular NIC, but beats the alternative.

Most of them don't need additional drivers (or your OS will grab what it needs) and should act as a second NIC.

They're fairly common, and cheap, and probably based off a handful of standard chipsets.

Journeyman Geek
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