Beginners Help

[henry]

Hey,

I'm redo-ing my entire network infrastructure in my small business and I'm completely crossed on which products to buy. I need 20-25 ethernet ports + WiFi. I don't need any special features. I have two Comcast business class internet modems with four ports in each. I don't want to use the Comcast ports, I want just a switch connected to the Comcast modem and all the IP phones and computers connected to the switch. AFAIK I would need a Wireless Access Point connected to the switch to get WiFi, but would that make the wireless network a separate network? I wan't one network for wireless and wired devices. I was thinking about buying the AF200-24 and maybe the WAP4410N. Am I looking at the right products? Would like to cut costs where I can. Thanks

[David Hornstein]

Are the comcast devices really modems or are they routers?

If they are modems then we have a easy solution as show below ?

If they are routers, further discussion will be required.

I like the following setup for the reasons below;

The ISA550 is a low cost security appliance supporting;

• dual WAN for load sharing or primary/secondary interfaces
• Easy GUI configuration, no command line interface required-(reduce your instalaltion costs)
• supports VPN connectivity if required for remote access and management purposes
• Supports VLANs and therefore segmenation and access of guest wireless and corporate users
• Supports multiple DHCP scopes to provide IP addresses for the Guest as well as the corporate VLAN
• supports advanced security options bla bla bla....All product have datasheets that state the features
• 
  

The SF300-24P or it's bigger brother SG300-28P support;

• POE to provide power for telephony as well as the wireless Access points
• Easy GUI configuration, no command line interface required-(reduce your instalaltion costs)
• Support VLAN segmenation
• Supports access list functionality for added security
• Are managed switches that allow you to monitor the network
• Fantastic warranty , with next business day replecement

AP121 or it's bigger brother the AP321

• Both work on POE switches without the need for extrenal Power pack
• Easy GUI configuration, no command line interface required-(reduce your instalaltion costs)
• good range / distance
• low wattage consumed, so much so I use the WAP121 with my home /lab network
• I would prefer not to use the WAP4410, especially when i have the WAP321 around .

Lastly with the free findit tool, as seen below, you have an intuitive method of finding and getting access to the equipment on your Local Area network.

Below is a screen capture taken from my Internet explorer showing findit and the devices within my home/lab network.

You may note, from the findit screen shot below,  I have recommended members of the families of product  i use myself

regards Dave

[henry]

Thanks for the detailed response. I highly appreciate that. Now we're changing our entire original plan. I'm against it but a few other people here are against me. They're suggesting, rather than combining the two Internet sources in one router, they want to create two networks, one from each router and separate the computers between the networks. We only have a few computers that must be networked together so we we'll just make sure they're networked together. They think a load balancer will slow the connection because its filtering the packets. They want to separate the computers for better speed. Do you think it's better to use one network or two?

[David Hornstein]

Hi Henry,

ISA500 supports different types of WAN redundancy;

• Failover -if  the user designated primary comcast link fails, the ISA500  switches over to secondary comcast modem

• Load balancing based on bandwidth

• Load balancing based on remaining bandwidth

• Policy based routing   - (certain user  defined traffic goes out one WAN link  and other traffic goes out different WAN link)

You have many options to choose from. I personally don't think load balancing is an issue for most traffic types to the internet.

Here is the performance of the unit itself, the switch will run at what's called wirespeed and the ISA500 is really really fast,

There are advantages to both methods your describe.  My product is most capable.

I would love to quickly speak to you directly just to discuss relative merits so you can make a decision

please email me a contact phone number to   dhornste  at  cisco.com  and we can have a quick chat.

regards Dave