1

Our company is expanding to a second location for our administrative operations. This serves to be a clean slate in terms of networking capabilities. We are building interior walls in the suite so there is no existing networking in the building as it sits.

We will have cable internet at speeds of 200 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up. The building will accommodate about 25-30 computer, split about 70% wired and 30% wireless. The suite will have a 180 sq.ft. server room where I will be hosting our training web server and an externally available secured FTP server. Our phone system will also be running off of Ethernet as we’re going with a cloud managed phone solution that only requires an Ethernet connection. I need to know a few things I need to consider in terms of network design.

1.) Should I use Cat 5e or Cat 6 cabling? No cable will be longer than 200 feet in length.

2.) Recommendations for routers, switches, and access points? I have a limited budget of about $500 for these pieces.

3.) Hardware firewall for separating the web servers from the internal network? I was thinking of a dual-firewall DMZ setup.

4.) Would it be a good idea to go with a separate switch for the Ethernet connections and the Phone Connections?

Thanks in advance.

@Cisco

3 Spice ups
2

Cat6 unless they are cutting the budget there as well. Hard wire everything, do not rely on wireless for your infrastructure just as a supplement for folks that need to move around

Kind of limiting your options to consumer grade crap with a $500 budget. 48 port HP runs about $1200, good access points with good coverage another $200, a good UTM multi port firewall another $1200 -$3600

Don’t go cheap unless your bass is a cheapskate.

3

The router I was looking at is available for purchase through TechSoup is a Cisco C881W Integrated Services Router for $100 or Cisco C891FW Integrated Services Router for $200. Both routers offer wireless capabilities. The switch I was looking at, also available through TechSoup, is the Cisco 2960-Plus 48-port switch for $125 but is out of stock.

I do have two Cisco switches that are currently unused to help cut down on the cost. One is a Catalyst 2950SX 24-port and the other is a Catalyst 2950 24-port. I understand the difference between the two is the SX has gigabit ethernet capabilities. I figure if these will work for my application, that I could use the SX for computer connectivity and the regular one for the phones, as they do not need Gigabit Ethernet.

Boss is being a total cheapskate with this, which is why I turned to TechSoup for Cisco’s donations. That is how we ended up with the Catalysts a few years ago. I am not opposed to consumer grade equipment to get everything off the ground, it’s what our current site has now, at least until our grant money comes in.

4

You didn’t mention your non-profit status. I guess that changes things then. You could probably come close with the Cisco offerings on TS.

Cisco 2960x $400

Cisco ASA 5505 $170

Aeronet APs for $50 each

Use the ISPs router and make sure it is business class with a block of static IPs.

Neither of those switches you mentioned are gigabit. Maybe an uplink port.

Cisco Catalyst 2950SX 24 Switch-24 10/100 Mbps ports with two fixed 1000BASE-SX uplinks

• Cisco Catalyst 2950 24 Switch-24 10/100 Mbps ports

5

Sorry, failed to mention that…

So with the equipment I listed, will the switches work for my application and which router would be best? TS says they aren’t accepting orders on Network Appliances and Switches until after 2/1/16, which is my deadline to get everything installed, but the routers are available and are a heck of a price.

I’ve pretty much sold myself on the Cat 6 cables. We used it for an expansion at our current office and it works out well. I’ve got about 500 feet left of it and I scored it for under $100 for a 1000 foot roll on Newegg.

I was able to find a Cisco RV320 on Newegg for about $120.

6

Be careful on looking at Cisco routers and their performance. An 881 won’t get anywhere near 200Mb if it is also doing NAT and firewall duties. The ASA would be a MUCH better bet for this.

I agree that if you are a not-for-profit Cisco have some spectacular pricing options available. Talk to a PROPER Cisco re-seller by locating one from the Cisco site.

7

Exactly what I was going to say. The 881 has a maximum throughput of 25Mbps, if memory serves.

8

Also talk to your hosted phone provider to make sure they are OK with using the router you select. Ask them if you need a static IP or not. If they do, and you don’t order it ahead of time when you place your order with the ISP, it could cause delays in your project.