ThreeDee
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2001
- Messages
- 11,414
I'm a network noob and just fix laptops and desktops (hardware) on the side. I repaired an individuals laptop for him and then he asked me to look at his office and the office that he shares his internet connection with (DSL).
Internet connection kept dropping with the shared office so he would unhook all his stuff and fiddle around with his D-Link switches and what not until he got the shared office back up .. anyhoo .. I just cleaned up his cabling and rearranged how they had their wireless routers setup and their settings so 2/3 dhcp servers weren't running on the same network .. removed a couple switches ...etc ...
I told him that it would be in his best interest to separate the 2 offices (businesses). And with a small business grade firewall appliance he could do that and take some of the work load off of his little DSL modem (if that matters at all). He asked me if I could find him one. I told him that I am out of my element with networking stuff but because I cleaned up his network and got everybody running .. and still running a week later .. he feels I'd do a better job finding the right hardware for his setup than he would .. so here I am ..
He uses wireless in his office, but not needed .. the other office uses an Asus wireless N router for a couple tablets and what not and it's separate from the "work" computers. Both offices use VOIP phones of which the computers are "piggy backed" onto.. cable into the phone, and then another port on phone with a cable going to a computer ..
Shared Office: 3 voip phones, 4 computers (2 of the computers piggy backed onto 2 of the phones), Asus wireless router.
Main Office: (it's pretty messy so was hard to tell what exactly was hooked up) 2 or 3 voip phones, 2 or 3 laptops wired, Has a Netgear wireless router that isn't currently hooked up.
This individual does not like Cisco as a company so does not want to use their products
I was poking around on Newegg and looking at
SONICWALL 01-SSC-0217
and ZyXEL ZyWALL ZWUSG20
..something around $200 or under that is useable without a subscription to that companies services .. I've setup Smoothwall boxes, and messed with IPCop eons ago and currently use Untangle .. throw in another nic if you want a separate network .. never messed with VLAN's. I'm in over my head, but this will be a learning experience while hopefully helping somebody else out.
What would you guys recommend?
Internet connection kept dropping with the shared office so he would unhook all his stuff and fiddle around with his D-Link switches and what not until he got the shared office back up .. anyhoo .. I just cleaned up his cabling and rearranged how they had their wireless routers setup and their settings so 2/3 dhcp servers weren't running on the same network .. removed a couple switches ...etc ...
I told him that it would be in his best interest to separate the 2 offices (businesses). And with a small business grade firewall appliance he could do that and take some of the work load off of his little DSL modem (if that matters at all). He asked me if I could find him one. I told him that I am out of my element with networking stuff but because I cleaned up his network and got everybody running .. and still running a week later .. he feels I'd do a better job finding the right hardware for his setup than he would .. so here I am ..
He uses wireless in his office, but not needed .. the other office uses an Asus wireless N router for a couple tablets and what not and it's separate from the "work" computers. Both offices use VOIP phones of which the computers are "piggy backed" onto.. cable into the phone, and then another port on phone with a cable going to a computer ..
Shared Office: 3 voip phones, 4 computers (2 of the computers piggy backed onto 2 of the phones), Asus wireless router.
Main Office: (it's pretty messy so was hard to tell what exactly was hooked up) 2 or 3 voip phones, 2 or 3 laptops wired, Has a Netgear wireless router that isn't currently hooked up.
This individual does not like Cisco as a company so does not want to use their products
I was poking around on Newegg and looking at
SONICWALL 01-SSC-0217
and ZyXEL ZyWALL ZWUSG20
..something around $200 or under that is useable without a subscription to that companies services .. I've setup Smoothwall boxes, and messed with IPCop eons ago and currently use Untangle .. throw in another nic if you want a separate network .. never messed with VLAN's. I'm in over my head, but this will be a learning experience while hopefully helping somebody else out.
What would you guys recommend?