Some advice on which router to use

[nastyman]

Hi

I'm currently doing an investigation and procurement on hardware and need to get a cisco router for the following scenario. Any advice on which router to use would be appreciated.

We are currently running a Cisco 1712 modular router as our main gateway. This in turn connects to a Cisco 1600 that we use as a border router that connectes to a 128K Diginet line.

We will soon be moving to new premises and will be expanding our network. We are looking at keeping the 128K line as well as adding a 512K diginet line, a 1MB ADSL line (possibly 2 ADSL lines) and more than likely a wireless internet connection for redundacy. We will also be using VOIP.

Would it be advisable to do away with the border router altogether and use the large router to do everything and keep the 1712 as backup? Or replace the 1600 with the new router for all the connections, and keep the 1712 as the main point of routing?

Any advice is appreciated!

Many Thanks!

Mark

 

[JOAMON]

Get rid of the 1600. Its ethernet port is only 10base-t half duplex. How many users are on your network? Is a T1 or even a fractional T1 not a possibility? This is a business class service with far better quality of service than res adsl lines. A business class SDSL circuit might also be a good choice. Look at the Cisco 1800 series ISR routers. It is pricy but will be a good long term investment. The 1841 is a modular unit but all other 1800 series are fixed configuration routers. You could keep the 1712 and just use it to make the connection to your ISP and the pass it off to your main router which does NAT, firewalling, IPS, IDS, etc, etc.

 

[nastyman]

Thanks for the reply.

I am in South Africa, so unfortunately T1 is not an option. The only options available to us are Diginet Lines, ADSL (no SDSL rolled out here yet) or wireless. We'll use the 512K and 128K Diginet lines for VPN's and possibly VOIP(it has a better guarantee than ADSL), and ADSL for web browsing and mail.

I like the idea of using the 1712 as the border router, and the 1800 router as the main router.

Many Thanks!