A router vs router question

[waelkdouh]

Hye, Sorry for the newbie question.

When having a small bussiness consisting of ~40 clients that i want to connect to one of those two routers  "RV042G router or a tp-link WR841N"

Which one over the other should i get and why?

Thank you

[Tom Watts]

Hi Wael, I'm not sure what is your goal here. The TP-Link is a $30 router that is wireless. The RV042G router is a non-wireless VPN router.

It really depends on your needs. I do seriously doubt the TP-LINK can hold 40 connective users since it is designed for home use.

-Tom
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[David Hornstein]

Hi Wael,

Just to add to my old colleagues comments, what features do you need  or do you just need a fast router with a stateful inspection  NAT firewall ?

Do you like the idea of ;

1. VPN termination

2. VPN termination of BYOD devices

3. 600+ Mbit/sec NAT throughput

4. ability to handle thousands of simultaneous firewall connections per second.

Give me an idea of your needs?  But note that two people,  responded to your question on the day you placed the query.  The small Business Support center that supports this product is also pretty darn good as well, when it comes to break/fix support.

regards Dave

[waelkdouh]

Thank you both for your feedback much appreciated.

To answer your questions

[quote]what features do you need  or do you just need a fast router with a stateful inspection  NAT firewall ?[/quote]

Yeah a fast router that holds a sif is enough , As most of the employees here only use the internet to its standards except when it comes to using the sharepoint.

[quote]Do you like the idea of ;

1. VPN termination

2. VPN termination of BYOD devices

3. 600+ Mbit/sec NAT throughput

4. ability to handle thousands of simultaneous firewall connections per second.[/quote]

1- No

2- Maybe, although i dont think we need this solution

3-As i currently work in one of  the 3rd world countries in the middleeast, The Network infrastructure supports only up to 2mbs upload and download.

4-Well I have Ms forefront tmg software that i'll be installing on one of servers , Won't this be enough?

[quote]Give me an idea of your needs? [/quote]

Well , Just opened a voip transit office, Nothing technical only Voip and Bulk Sms sales. 40 employees all have their laptops and Smart phones.

1 onsite sharepoint server using one public ip .

1 2008r2 server that i'll be using for the Microsoft forefront firewall

I have 3 internet connections from 3 different isp's.

1 cisco aironet 1041 access point Connected to tplink WR841N router which in turn is connected to a

a microwave dedicated 2mbs download/upload connection .

2 residential 8mbs download/upload connections as a backup incase the first one fails.

All of our network in the office is a wireless one, " Might be going with wired connection" as i'm facing some disconenctions. So a good router connected to a cisco switch that can support 40 employees will be needed.

No voip phones, Although it might be a future plan.

That pretty much sums up everything here

[quote] But note that two people,  responded to your question on the day you placed the query. [/quote]

Thank you and i appreciate both of your help good sirs.

[quote]The small Business Support center that supports this product is also pretty darn good as well, when it comes to break/fix support.[/quote]

Good to hear.

Thank you for your time and help.

[Tom Watts]

Hi Wael, you may look in to the RV016 model for the prospects of up to 7 WAN if you'd like to host all of your internet connections on the router. It would also provide 16 network ports which may give some reduction in equipment such as a switch or two and more than enough process power for 40 users. The RV042G is can host only 2 WAN connections with 4 LAN ports.

The benefit of the RV042G or RV016 is the ability to use such as PPTP VPN. If you need LAN access while you're away, PPTP is a quick and good connection that can run over low bandwidth connections so you may find it to be a very spoiled feature. The RV016 is a 10/100 router. Obviously the RV042G is a 10/100/1000 router. So if you need a gig connection on the LAN then the RV042G is a good choice.

Either router, RV016 or RV042G will hold 40+ users without much problem. They also both support DMZ options if you need your server to be public-facing where you may assign your server an IP address from the IP block. It also hosts 1-1 NAT features and port forwarding/upnp/triggering. So there are a myriad of options for service access.

-Tom
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[waelkdouh]

Hye tom,

Thanks for your reply, One question before i look into the router you told me aboiut. Was checking my nventory and found a cyberoam cr50ia and found out it works as a load balancer.

Do you think it's enough?

Thanks

[Tom Watts · Accepted solution]

That Cyberoam cr50ia looks like quite a piece of hardware. It should be plenty.

-Tom
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[waelkdouh]

Understood , thank you very much for your help

[David Hornstein]

Hi Wael,

Seems like a strange direction to go from your initial US $26 dollar TP router to a potentially US $1000+ appliance.

If you are really looking at a more robust solution,  with the potential for adding VOIP in the future, why not look at a very popular Integrated services Router solution, that can potentially act as a voice gateway, support VLANs and QOS etc , if the need is really there.  If you want a UTM solution we have ISA500 or ASA55xx secfurity appliances.

Does it make more sense to have a word to the local Cisco Partner in your location,  to see what solutions meet your present and future applications.

My concern is no so much getting some hardware onsite, but the right solution with  pre and post sales support on any solution you get.  Check out the partner locator, remember it costs nothing to have a chat to a local Cisco partner  to see if we have a solution that fits your current and near  future requirements.

Partner Locator

regards Dave