Help me setup my work network

By toufas
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toufas

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So, I work at a restaurant. It's in an old building in london, there is a basement with an office and as you can imagine, thick stone walls.
We have 3 wired ticket printers on a router, and we have a dsl connection.

My boss's brother works for linksys so he asked me to find any equipment from them in order to setup the wifi signal to be strong, and provide customer wifi if it's possible.

Any recommendations? Cost can be not an issue, but lets not get things for the sake of getting them, but for the sake of practicality.

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+BudMan MVC

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Not sure what you have available over there.. But here in the US you would use their business AP line

 

http://www.linksys.com/us/business-wireless-access-points/c/wireless-ac-access-points/

linksysAP.jpg

 

Odd that the gb site doesn't list the prices?

http://www.linksys.com/gb/c/business-wireless-access-points/

 

And they don't seem to list the new LAPAC2600??

 

You would place those in the areas you want wifi, yeah if you have thick walls and such you would most likely need an AP in every area.  And you would wire these to your network!!  So you might need to get some network drops put in by pro's.  They do support WDS so you can do wireless uplink from 1 AP to the other, etc.  But this does nor provide for best possible wifi, wire to each ap is best.  They are POE so they make for easy correct deployment for best coverage.

 

Since your saying cost is not really a problem I would go with their newest one

http://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-LAPAC2600/

 

The number and placement would depend on the actual size of the place and area's you want/need wifi coverage..  As to providing wifi for your customers.. How many customers at any given time are there?  And what is the speed of your internet connection..  If you have a 2mbps connection and 100 customers that wouldn't be worth anything, etc..  And would just frustrate your customers that the wifi sucks ;)  Better not to have any if you ask me if you not up to giving them a connection that is in line with what they get off their phones anyway..

 

What router are you using currently?  If its some cheap model you got from your isp, or you picked up for a couple of quid at the local computer store it might not be capable of handling lots of sessions if you provide connectivity to your clients even if you have high speed internet.  Also providing internet via wifi can have its own issues - would you want to do any sort of filtering on specific traffic.. For example torrents and such by users on their laptops could suck up all your bandwidth, etc..  These things need to come into play when you fire up public connection to the internet, or inappropriate use that would look like it came from your IP, etc.

 

Its rare that employee's of a company can just get all the hardware they want for free, sure prob can get a discount.  But maybe even with discount those might be higher priced than the unifi stuff.  They make some great AP that are poe, low cost option for small businesses that don't have the resources in IT support and Money for say an enterprise class cisco wifi setup, etc.

 

https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ac/

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+John Teacake MVC

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Yeah the UBNT stuff we can get in the UK. It looks really good, I played about with a bit for work but the high end stuff, I am going to get some of the AP's myself for home use in the near future.

 

Check out:

 

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/

 

For shopping in the UK, As well as Amazon yada yada... Avoid the Dixons Retail Group, PC World, Currys, etc etc its all cheap crap! Broadband buyer is a good site though, Read the reviews but what Budman said... ;-)

 


Edit: So has the building got CAT5 points wired in already? Essentially you need .....

 

Modem/Router (Probably supplied by ISP), Again Who is it? ... --------> Cat 5 Internal cabling, Wired printers where they need to be and then an AP where they need to be.

 

Edit, If you wanted even though I am not in the area, You could get the AP's and I could set them up remotely if you wanted ... For a fee of course! ha

 

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+BudMan MVC

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If you have any questions on the unifi AP, sc302 has some big deployment(s) of them.  I have 3 of them in my small house, a lite, lr and a pro.  Very very happy with their performance and speed at which the company fixes issues and adds new features.

 

The controller software (that you don't actually have to run uness you want some bells and whistles) is really designed for a shop that has all their stuff, switch, router, voip, camera's, ap etc.  Then it becomes a nice central control point.  Be if you just have the AP the dashboard is a bunch of stuff you don't need just showing that stuff offline, etc.  But they are working on making it so you can tweak for looks for just the equipment you have is what I hear from their forums..

 

I run eap-tls auth for one of my ssids, and have guest and other psk ssid so happy to answer any sort of tech/performance questions you might have on them.. They are great low cost option for sure a home/smb or even budget minded enterprise.

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sc302 Veteran

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the controller software is great if you have a lot of their ap's, not just a lot of their products. 

 

Gives you a bunch of features and monitoring that you can do on the fly...granted the more products you have the more integrated it becomes, but in no means do you have to have it if you don't have all of their products.  Being able to configure the aps on the fly is helpful and determining which aps are the most used is also helpful....you can deploy more aps in certain areas if needed when those areas are over saturated with clients.  You really want to have the controller running in solutions that have more than 5 APs. 

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+BudMan MVC

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I would say run it with even 1 AP ;)  I have 3 and its great seeing what client is connected to what at what speed, what signal strength, etc.. even with just AP it provides info that is nice to have for sure.  How much traffic specific client used.. Lots of good stuff.

 

But if you don't have a place to run it, then by no means is it a requirement unless you want to run say their captive portal, etc.

 

It will be "nicer" looking once they allow you remove the stuff you don't have and just focus on your AP, etc.  But that is just cosmetic stuff. 

 

If going to use with like customers, it would be great to just see how many customers are connecting, how much traffic they are using, etc. etc. Even not using captive portal say with vouchers for access, etc.

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+John Teacake MVC

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51 minutes ago, BudMan said:

I would say run it with even 1 AP ;)  I have 3 and its great seeing what client is connected to what at what speed, what signal strength, etc.. even with just AP it provides info that is nice to have for sure.  How much traffic specific client used.. Lots of good stuff.

 

But if you don't have a place to run it, then by no means is it a requirement unless you want to run say their captive portal, etc.

 

It will be "nicer" looking once they allow you remove the stuff you don't have and just focus on your AP, etc.  But that is just cosmetic stuff. 

 

If going to use with like customers, it would be great to just see how many customers are connecting, how much traffic they are using, etc. etc. Even not using captive portal say with vouchers for access, etc.

Just out of Curiosity is all that stuff available if I bought just one AP say this one...

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UBIQUITI-UAP-UniFi-AP-Networking/dp/B00V1QT6SY/ref=sr_1_80?srs=3998560031&ie=UTF8&qid=1471029807&sr=8-80

 

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sc302 Veteran

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35 minutes ago, John Teacake said:

Cool, Wasn't sure if it was one of those "This feature is available in the cloud" kind of thing.

you buy their ap's and their controller software is free and it has all of those features. 

 

that particular one you link to is 2.4GHz only.  I would recommend the AC-LR or the AC-Pro if you would like both channels

 

LR: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ubiquiti-Networks-867Mbit-passive-UAP-AC-LR/dp/B016K5A06C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1471030598&sr=8-3&keywords=unifi+ac+pro

 

PRO: https://www.amazon.co.uk/UBIQUITI-NETWORKS-UBI-UAP-AC-PRO-5Ghz-1300Mbps/dp/B016XYQ3WK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471030598&sr=8-1&keywords=unifi+ac+pro

 

 

for your needs the difference between the lr and the pro is that the 5GHz channel is that mimo support is 2x2 on the LR vs 3x3 on the Pro.

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+BudMan MVC

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Their lite would be an option as well for home use for sure.

 

If you have a spare key laying around sc302 I would be more than happy to play with it for you ;)  I will pay for shipping even.. ;)  I have no plans on moving it off my esxi host running on ubuntu vm which works great.  But always happy to play with new stuff..

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+BudMan MVC

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Well why?  If its not the cheapest option.. I gave you the model you would if linksys.. Or any of those business models, etc.

 

Can he get them for FREE?  Or just a discount - their pricing is way over the top compared to unifi, so even with discount might be cheaper to go unifi, etc.  Which is why I through it out there.  But sure linksys makes business AP..  Pick one..

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toufas

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11 hours ago, BudMan said:

Well why?  If its not the cheapest option.. I gave you the model you would if linksys.. Or any of those business models, etc.

 

Can he get them for FREE?  Or just a discount - their pricing is way over the top compared to unifi, so even with discount might be cheaper to go unifi, etc.  Which is why I through it out there.  But sure linksys makes business AP..  Pick one..

I am sure that they will be for free. Do i need a special router to power the POE ap?

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+BudMan MVC

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No you would not need a special router, you could use a poe switch sure.  But there should be a poe injector..  A little box that plugs into power, then normal ethernet from your network to the box - then ethernet to the AP that carries power.

poe_injector_example800.jpg

 

I know linksys makes atleast one this model number LACPI30, but one should come with your POE AP.

 

Now if your going to put in a few of them, then sure might be nicer to get a poe switch..   But your talking only a few of them then just use the injector makes no sense to spend the money.. Unless your getting that free too?  Then sure..

 

Again what "router" are you currently using?? If he is getting you linksys stuff for free sure get say a LGS528 which is their managed switch, 28 port I don't show them making any poe switches anyway.  And go for the LRT224 which is their dual wan business vpn router.  And might as well throw in some security cameras as well, I would prob get a few LCAB03VLNOD outdoor cameras and as many inside dome LCAD03FLN you would need and then the LNR0208C network video recorder to record it all.  If you add it all up retail ballpark usd your talking.

 

Lets do

3 x AP $470

2 x LCAB03VLNOD $470

3 x LCAD03FLN $353

1 x LNR0208C $627

1 x LRT224 $230

1 x LGS528 $500

 

Your in the ball part of $4800 retail, not counting any cost of network runs or poe injectors tax/vat etc.  Sweet deal all for free ;)

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toufas

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It doesn't have to be that complex. I was thinking a router for the internet on the ground floor then a POE AP on the basement. I will get the model numbers of what we are using right now and update you soon

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+BudMan MVC

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that is not anywhere near complex.. That would be a very basic/cheap company setup if you ask me.  Don't you want/need security camera's - pretty much every business has these.  Maybe you don't need that many?

 

Sure if very small location 1 camera maybe - prob 2 to cover front and back.  Maybe the 28 port is overkill but that is the smallest they make in linksys on a full managed switch.  You could do maybe their smart line where.. Ah they do make a POE model the 8 port (Linksys LGS308P 8-Port Business Smart Gigabit PoE+ Switch ) retails for $230.  But if its all FREE so why not allow for growth.  That is really the only business class router they make.  You could go with the single wan version vs the dual wan, but again if FREE why not allow for 2nd line for backup/loadbalance, etc.

 

But ok if all you want is the wifi then get the 1 AP, mount it in best location and there you go.  But depending on size and make up of the location, number of users that would be on the wifi 1 is normally not enough.  shoot in are tiny office here with max at any given time say 100 people we have 10 some AP.  And we have crappy walls here in the US ;)  We could prob cover the total space with like maybe 3 or 4.. But now you run into a density issue with too many users on same AP, etc.

 

How many customers would you have when full for say dinner or lunch?  Really small place that sits say 30 people? Ok But if your talking bigger place and your talking sits 300 then 1 AP going to be pretty ###### performance even if you had a HUGE internet pipe, etc.

 

You going to do something do it right and design it so it works, not some crappy performance that nobody is going to like anyway, etc.

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toufas

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No cameras are already on another network, wired one I think.

 

The place sits 60 at a time. We rarely get a full house, but we do around 150 covers a day.

The current setup is : linksys se2800, linksys wrt1900ac and a belkin ac1800 acting as a repeater for the basement. 

 

As it is, this works but it could be better. Customers don't have wifi, even though its enabled from the router.

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+BudMan MVC

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yeah that is just home crap.. That is not even a smart switch..

 

I would since your getting linksys stuff for free the 8 port smart switch.  If you can get the poe one great makes it easy for your AP(s).  Then get a couple of the business AP..  And the business router.  Now you can setup staff ssid that is secure and then customers could then just be open ssid with captive portal or just open all together or just a ssid you hand out the psk to your customers or post somewhere in the place, suggest you change it now and then.. etc..

 

This would be step above what your currently doing for sure..

 

 

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toufas

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I was thinking something along these lines: a good modem router and a good ap with POE.

I think that the place does not need a smart switch to run 3 kitchen printers.

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+BudMan MVC

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How you going to have more than 1 ssid without vlans?  So your guests going to be able to print to your printers ;)  Your wifi not on edge with AP..

 

They shouldn't even sell dumb switches anymore.. The non poe switch linksys retails for $99 for 8 port gig.. which to be honest is pretty freaking high for their brandname.. But hey your getting it free right.  I would get a sg350 cisco 10 ports.. Fully managed layer 3 capable, etc.

 

If your worried about price then get something like it does vlans..

https://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-8-Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-TL-SG108E/dp/B00K4DS5KU

 

$33... for a 8 port gig switch with vlan support..

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+BudMan MVC

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^ very true..  Dynamic vlans can come in very handy.. But when are consumer sort of products going to support wpa enterprise vs psk so can leverage the dynamic vlan assignment?

 

I would love to just run 1 ssid and then breakout all my different devices/users to their respective vlans.

 

But they devices only understand PSK..  With more and more type of devices connecting, which your not going to want to put all on the same vlan for security reasons..  Dynamic vlans going to be become more an more popular..  But I don't know how to break them out to their own vlan when they don't do wpa enterprise?  Unifi for example now supports dynamic vlan, but there is no way to even enable it without wpa enterprise..  So how do you get the psk only sort of devices to auth against your radius so you can assign it to a vlan?

 

Need to see if anyone has asked for the mac auth radius, then could atleast put the devices on the specific vlans on their mac, etc..

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