Small Office Lan With Adsl

[pcaldredbann]

Hi everyone,

 

Right then i'm going to be setting up an office LAN with around 12 computers. I'm after some recommendations as to what hardware you all recommend. I will be using a router connected to ADSL and a switch. Now the switch will need to be at least 12 port (or 2 6-port routers will be fine as long as it doesn't cost much more) as I will be connecting the computers through the switch connected to a port(s) on the router.

 

Every machine on the network needs to have ADSL access, file sharing access to a main server (big hard-drive and intranet host really) and printer sharing. Router will preferably have firewall, but not too necessary as each machine will have a web scanner and most TCP/UDP ports blocked so bad sites, P2P is a big no no

 

So just after some recommendations for good reliable routers and switches - oh and if anyone can advise me a better, same cost solution to my networking task please feel free to let me know, enjoying the learning experience.

 

Thanks guys/gals

[TCH-Thomas]

Sorry, don´t have the answer to this one, but...

 

Welcome to the forum.

[TCH-Bruce]

Welcome to the forums

 

Here is a tutorial and I am sure there are others on the web explaining how to set up a small network.

 

Any name brand router and switch combination should work well. Personally I have used SMC and DLink routers with no problems at all.

[TweezerMan]

Welcome to the forums, pcaldredbann!

[pcaldredbann]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys - i'm a web/c++ developer aswell so will be picking all your brains mwahahaha....only kidding.

[stevevan]

Welcome to the forums! There are several types/brands of routers out there...just depends upon your budget and specific needs.

[TCH-Don]

Welcome to the forums, pcaldredbann

[lishikawa]

First of all, you need to separate your LAN requirements from your WAN. But after that's said, you need someone who knows networking to help you.

 

Here's what you need to start...

 

 

For LAN...

 

Your needs are small, but you will need to figure out your requirements for DHCP, DNS for basic internet stuff. DHCPs are often included with your router, but DNS will not. Windows domains? If so, you will need to setup a domain controllers. You can attach a printer directly into the pdc/bdc and use it as a printer server as well. E-mail? Do you want a simple e-mail server, or do you want exchange server? (Probably not worth the cost). Or even use external e-mail servers? (highly recommended). You want e-mails to be always there, so highly recommend external service unless you are super network savvy.

 

For WAN...

You need to setup a firewall. NAT is a basic firewall and you want something a bit more intelligent. SPI is OK. There are network appliance plug ins, but these will set you back couple of thousand. Many dot coms started with linux server. Where companies configured a firewall and limite the connection and make changes as needed. If you are linux savvy, then 2 nic cards, or some machines even come with 2 nic ports built in, and a software called guard-dog will take care of your firewalling needs. Then again, same as dhcp, dns, and print server can be resolved with that as well.

 

Routers (internal):

Hefty routers allows for things called VLANs, and diagnostic ports. Also there is a backbone badwidth limitation. In hefty HP procurves (we have several in our labs), you have 6-8 gigabits. But those are systems that costs few thousand when it's all said and done. So, I'd say skip it and buy a $200 16 port gigabit ethernet switch from anybody. You want all gigabit ports for scalability.

 

I can't explain everything as what you are asking for is a lot more then what you think you are asking for. But be careful with who you hire. There are tons of people who think they know what they are doing, but are totally clueless. I know some, but not all as this isn't my main thing.

 

Good Luck.

 

L.