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Accessing printer across two networks

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rx2

Occasional Visitor
Hi -

I have a printer connected with a static IP via ethernet to the primary network, and also have a guest network setup for the kids. However, it would be great if both networks could have visibility of the printer. I don't want to "enable intranet" access for the guest network, as this would expose the entire primary network. Is there way to make the printer visible on both networks?

Cheers,
 
Maybe use port forward (for raw / lpr) on the AP ?
Good suggestion - though it would mean when connecting to the printer on the guest network they would need to use the WAN IP:port. I am not sure I like the idea of exposing the printer via WAN. I was hoping some other trickery was possible.
 
It depends on what options there are for port forwarding, if the Wifi uses a different subnet then wired you should be able to forward between them, for example I have an AP on a router port with a router VLAN, I have a second router (a $50 EdgeRouter er-X) between the wired AP side and the main router (beyond the VLAN) exposing a LPR port on its WAN side (which is still the LAN on the Wifi side) going back to a printer on the main LAN. Anyone can print from Wifi VLAN's and my other purpose, I can access storage which is on a Wifi VLAN.
 
This has been asked a few times. @Martineau had created a couple of scripts, but I was unsuccessful getting them to work with modern hardware, and that was before guestnet1 put itself on a different subnet. Report back if you get this to work please?

 
Good suggestion - though it would mean when connecting to the printer on the guest network they would need to use the WAN IP:port. I am not sure I like the idea of exposing the printer via WAN. I was hoping some other trickery was possible.

You don't *have* to use port forwarding and thus expose the printer to the internet for these purposes. You can simply use a pair of DNAT/SNAT rules to force redirection of *any* IP (other than one belonging to the current IP network) back into the local network.

The following thread over on the tomato forums (LinksysInfo.org) explains how (w/ my own commentary as to why any DNAT requires a corresponding SNAT).

 

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