Advice for Building Small Network Question

[danmartinnorhrop]

Hello,

I am building a small network environment which will connect to a larger office, scalability is important.  We will begin having about 30 users which will all need VOIP services.  The VOIP services will be hosted by a cloud provider.  My question is as of now I am looking to obtain a Cisco 2921 ISR Router and then a Cisco 2960-X 48Gig POE, and my main question is I am confident the switch can handle the power and operation of the phones but just to make sure I should not run into any problems with the router as far as forwarding the data, correct?  Any other comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

[Mike Schultz]

Is the 2921 going to be also providing the WAN connection to the larger office? If so, what is the throughput requirements?

[danmartinnorhrop]

I expect not.  There will be an ASA device placed outside of the router.  I am not familiar with the WAN connection details at this time.  I am only working on the internal network behind the firewall at this time.

[Leo Laohoo]

1.  Don't choose the model of the router based on the price.  Choose the model of the router based on your WAN bandwidth.  What is your bandwidth NOW and what will be your bandwidth in the next 3 to 5 years from now?  

2.  What is the power draw of your VoIP phones?  This makes a significant difference because there are switch models that have no problem providing 48-ports PoE at 15.4w (or less).  But if you've got PoE requirement of >15.4w then you'll need a switch model that can support more power.  

[devils_advocate]

What WAN speed are you paying for?

The 2921 is a decent enough router but if you have a 10Gb WAN connection, it won't be powerful enough.

Presumably you are not using a site to site VPN?