Newbie: Megastream Connections 1

[Stevehewitt]

Hi Guys,

I'm really sorry, as I don't think that this is the right forum - but I've spent the last 10 minutes trying to find the right one and no joy!

I'm trying to discover a bit more information about Megastream connections. Are they the retail term for leased lines?
Also, how does the termination work? Is it some form of RJ-45 / Cat5 cable poking from some BT box, or something different?
Will I need some special router / firewall at the terminal end, or will a standard firewall sort it?
Is it dedicated as in it's a private tunnel? (So it can't in theory be hacked - similar to a VPN)

Sorry again, but I haven't got any experience in the area of leased lines, megastream, kilostream etc. (Only worked with DSL services in SME enviroments!)

Thanks in advance,


Steve.

 

[ChrisAC]

These are point to point circuits to provide access either between offices for a dedicated WAN link to to provide dedicated access to the internet via an ISP POP.

Usually they will be terminated on some kind of NTE via a fibre or copper link and the output for the customer is a serial connection for a router via a card such as this ..

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/modules/ps3129/products_tech_note09186a00800b0859.shtml

We generally use Cisco 1721 routers with this card to terminate these circuits.

"Is it dedicated as in it's a private tunnel? (So it can't in theory be hacked - similar to a VPN)"

No, if it's a internet transit link to an ISP POP then it's just as vunerable as any method of transit.

Chris.

**********************
Chris A.C, CCNA, CCSA
**********************

 

[Stevehewitt]

So it could be in affect a VPN connection if it was setup from one office to another. - It doesn't have to go through a ISP?

Thanks for the advice,


Steve.

 

[ChrisAC]

No, they don't have to be internet transit links. You can have a circuit built from office to another. They used to be the preferred method of linking up remote offices to a central site but over the last few years they are getting slowly replaced by VPN connections over the internet.

If you had say an office in London and one in Glasgow with a leased line then you would be paying for that entire link, ie. the whole switched circuit from one end to the other. However, you replace that with a VPN solution and you only have to pay for two circuits to the local ISP POP on both ends and then you can pass all your traffic over a public network (ie the internet) with encryption (ie. a VPN). Companies are saving thousands by moving over to this method, especially where they have a large number of remote sites.

Chris.

**********************
Chris A.C, CCNA, CCSA
**********************

 

[Stevehewitt]

OK Chris. Thanks for your help. I wasn't aware of pricing etc and I'm a complete newbie to this!
We're setting up a remote office with about 100 staff in it in Norfolk, yet the head office is near Manchester. If the Manchester office already has a beefy line to it's ISP (I think its 4mbps) then would we only need to have a ISP POP Megastream link and run a VPN to our Head Office IP?

Thanks for your help.

 

[ChrisAC]

Sounds like a VPN would be the ideal solution in that case. Depending on your bandwidth requirements an ADSL link might be okay for the remote office rather than a Megastream. However, if you can afford the dedicated bandwidth of a leased line then this is always a better option.

Good luck.

Chris.

**********************
Chris A.C, CCNA, CCSA
**********************

 

[Stevehewitt]

I think it would be best to go with the leased line on the basis that we need a SLA and fixed conention. (You do get that on a leased line right?!)

It's a call centre being setup and the POS app we use is hosted on a *nix server in Manchester (over a SSH connection from each client to the server) so the line needs to be reliable and fast.

Thanks for your help,

Much appreciated.


Steve.