Router/Switches Advise

[XanoZuke]

Hello everyone!

I have this assignment for college called RFP, the problem is that I need some routers and switches advise 'cuz I've never bought any. What to look for when buying one? Which one do you usually go for when looking around? Thank you for any help, if you need more information just let me know.

[sc302 Veteran]

Hello everyone!

I have this assignment for college called RFP, the problem is that I need some routers and switches advise 'cuz I've never bought any. What to look for when buying one? Which one do you usually go for when looking around? Thank you for any help, if you need more information just let me know.

it depends on the needs of the business. how much traffic is going to come through the device, are you going to have multiple subnets, how many machines are going to be on the network. you can blanket everything, but there is the interview process of client that needs to take place before anything can be recommended.

Questions that need to be answered, are you going to have 1 subnet internally or multiple, are you going to have a dmz which would be in best practice to have multiple ports in the router. Are you going to be using multiple vlan's or just one lan. how many devices are going to be on the lan or multiple lan's. is the router going to be used to route multiple internal sites, or just one site to the internet, or both. then once you have this information you can decide wether or not you will need a layer 3 or layer 2, or layer 1 network switch, and decide how big or small of a router you will need.

you can get away with a basic cisco 1800 series router and a cisco 2960 router for most small to medium networks. you can find hp or 3com equiv for cost sake, I really like the hp switches which have a similar programming structure as cisco.

[sc302 Veteran]

double post, touch pad got the better of me.

[XanoZuke]

it depends on the needs of the business. how much traffic is going to come through the device, are you going to have multiple subnets, how many machines are going to be on the network. you can blanket everything, but there is the interview process of client that needs to take place before anything can be recommended.

Questions that need to be answered, are you going to have 1 subnet internally or multiple, are you going to have a dmz which would be in best practice to have multiple ports in the router. Are you going to be using multiple vlan's or just one lan. how many devices are going to be on the lan or multiple lan's. is the router going to be used to route multiple internal sites, or just one site to the internet, or both. then once you have this information you can decide wether or not you will need a layer 3 or layer 2, or layer 1 network switch, and decide how big or small of a router you will need.

you can get away with a basic cisco 1800 series router and a cisco 2960 router for most small to medium networks. you can find hp or 3com equiv for cost sake, I really like the hp switches which have a similar programming structure as cisco.

Nice! At least I have a lead now :D well, about all those questions: we're still thinking about all that. The company's very big, it has 5 administrative offices (around 500 employees each one) all around the world, 3 production facilities (I'd say 200 employees each one) , 5 warehouses (200 employees too) and 10 stores (50 employees each). The whole network's supposed to have Vlans, Data redundancy, internal mail, remote access, VoIP and a whole lot of other stuff. If you can read spanish, I could send you the whole document if you'd like to. I don't want anyone to do my assignment, I just need some help because I've never done anything like this before and I'm still somewhat new in this networking field.

Thank you! :D

[+BudMan MVC]

"I don't want anyone to do my assignment, I just need some help because I've never done anything like this before"

Um -- isn't it the point of the assignment for you to figure this stuff out? Your class work should of gone over all the things you need to know in figuring this sort of thing out.

Shouldn't you be working with classmates and or your instructor on things you dont understand?

If the instructor has not gone over the "how" for anything in the assignment -- shouldn't you be asking him for help? I find it unlikely that your instructor gave you such an in depth assignment and then said "figure it out" without going over the concepts before hand.. Ie what are vlans, how to provide email and data redundancy, etc.

Sounds like someone was not paying attention in class - and now they need help on their homework ;)

[sc302 Veteran]

you need to find equipment that will handle the request at hand. look at www.cisco.com and www.hp.com for products (i even think they have a product recommendation utility). if worse came to worse, you could cheat and call up either company and see what they recommend. I am not helping any more you need to figure it out for yourself (I really recommend doing it yourself so you learn what the equipment can do and handle).

[XanoZuke]

"I don't want anyone to do my assignment, I just need some help because I've never done anything like this before"

Um -- isn't it the point of the assignment for you to figure this stuff out? Your class work should of gone over all the things you need to know in figuring this sort of thing out.

Shouldn't you be working with classmates and or your instructor on things you dont understand?

If the instructor has not gone over the "how" for anything in the assignment -- shouldn't you be asking him for help? I find it unlikely that your instructor gave you such an in depth assignment and then said "figure it out" without going over the concepts before hand.. Ie what are vlans, how to provide email and data redundancy, etc.

Sounds like someone was not paying attention in class - and now they need help on their homework ;)

Believe me, he did exactly what you just said. He did explain what are Vlans and other helpful stuff about the assignment, but he never mentioned anything about router/switch brand or price, and there's my problem. I really don't know how to look for one, or which one to buy. I just need some references.

[sc302 Veteran]

Believe me, he did exactly what you just said. He did explain what are Vlans and other helpful stuff about the assignment, but he never mentioned anything about router/switch brand or price, and there's my problem. I really don't know how to look for one, or which one to buy. I just need some references.

start with for research:

www.cisco.com

www.hp.com

www.3com.com

go to here for pricing:

www.cdw.com

www.insight.com

www.buy.com

Hp and 3com will be your cheaper alternatives to cisco, there are others out there but these have been my main 3 (nortel filed for bankrupcy so I did not recommend them or bay networks for a reason). look up "network router" and "network switch" in a google search and you will find plenty. I have given you enough to start your assignment, the only way you will know which one to buy is to look at the specs of each and find out what is comparable across vendors or as I said call up the manufacturers and start learning by asking the sales reps questions, if they can't give you answers ask the sales reps if you can question support (sometimes they will send you through). this is all the advise that anyone should give you regarding this school project.

[+BudMan MVC]

To be honest for a LARGE company like in the assignment you really have 1 choice for routers and switches ---> Cisco plain and simple.

[XanoZuke]

To be honest for a LARGE company like in the assignment you really have 1 choice for routers and switches ---> Cisco plain and simple.

I was thinking the same too, but I really can't limit my choices since I've never worked with this before :p Anyway, thanks for everyone's opinion :D

[majortom1981]

it depends on the needs of the business. how much traffic is going to come through the device, are you going to have multiple subnets, how many machines are going to be on the network. you can blanket everything, but there is the interview process of client that needs to take place before anything can be recommended.

Questions that need to be answered, are you going to have 1 subnet internally or multiple, are you going to have a dmz which would be in best practice to have multiple ports in the router. Are you going to be using multiple vlan's or just one lan. how many devices are going to be on the lan or multiple lan's. is the router going to be used to route multiple internal sites, or just one site to the internet, or both. then once you have this information you can decide wether or not you will need a layer 3 or layer 2, or layer 1 network switch, and decide how big or small of a router you will need.

you can get away with a basic cisco 1800 series router and a cisco 2960 router for most small to medium networks. you can find hp or 3com equiv for cost sake, I really like the hp switches which have a similar programming structure as cisco.

I am in complete agreement here. HP switches which have the same specs and features of cisco switches are half the price.

We have the card based hp switches all ethernet ports and it rocks.

Dont just use cisco equipment. we use hp switches here. Vlans and everything. They do the same things at half the price. HP's switches are just as capable. Look up the specs