Leased line from BT

epswat · 19 Jun 2008 at 15:47

First of, has anyone had any dealing with BT leased lines, specifically 10meg on a 30Meg bearer?
Any problems with service and support?
Second, the Router they are going to supply is a Cisco 1841 which i believe only has 2 LAN ports (one WAN/one LAN??). I need to connect 3 servers directly to the internet, and this leaves me with a problem.
With only one or possibly 2 LAN ports, how can I connect the third server?
Would it be OK to just uplink a switch to the Cisco router and then wire the 3 servers into the switch?

I am pretty sure this will be OK,and want to canvas opinion.

Thanks

Elliott

Netvyper · 19 Jun 2008 at 16:12

connecting your servers using a switch will be fine. Ideally they should be behind a firewall too, Cisco ASA or similar.

No experience with BT leased lines though

epswat · 19 Jun 2008 at 16:31

Thanks for the quick response. Seeing as the BT Router is a Cisco 1841, I guess this will be performing stateful packet inspection.

Elliott

GhostlyPea · 19 Jun 2008 at 16:33

Our BT leased line is reasonably effecient, although we did have an issue with its line quality at one point. this was resolved and the issue has never re-occured although BT weren't very quick or helpful in the matter. Although I have no experience compared with other providers.

- Pea0n

atomiser · 19 Jun 2008 at 17:09

we've several hundred leased lines from bt.

service and support is, erm, inconsistent.

yes, you will need to utilise a switch to connect your servers. the different ports on the router are just that, routed ports.

is this a leased line to the internet? the router they provide will be just that, a router. you would need to supply your own firewall.

edit: sorry, just re-read your post and noticed you did mention the internet. are you putting servers 'directly' on the internet? are you mad?! you definitely need to put them behind a firewall!

epswat · 19 Jun 2008 at 17:19

So the Cisco will not packet filter?

If that is the case, then yes I will need a firewall between the servers and the outside world.

Thanks

bigredshark · 19 Jun 2008 at 18:31

epswat said:
So the Cisco will not packet filter?

If that is the case, then yes I will need a firewall between the servers and the outside world.

Thanks

Of course it won't, they're supplying you with a router..

I'd steer clear of BT as much as humanly possible but you might get lucky...

atomiser · 19 Jun 2008 at 18:58

The Cisco may have a basic ACL on it, but that is packet filtering only, not stateful inspection. You will not have control of the Cisco, as that will remain the property of BT, meaning the demarc is essentially the Ethernet port you connect to. I can recommend the Juniper Netscreen range of firewalls, I've used most of the range, and they are excellent.

epswat · 19 Jun 2008 at 22:57

Thanks, how easy are the juniperfw's to use?
I have heard horry stories about IOS on Cisco hardware.

TBH, I am used to web based interfaces, such as the Sonicwall range.

Thanks for the advice

epswat · 19 Jun 2008 at 22:58

I mean Horror stories!

atomiser · 20 Jun 2008 at 07:58

the juniper firewalls are very easy to work with. they have a cli as well as a web interface so it's entirely up to you which you use. there are certain things you will need to do at the cli, but these are largely troubleshooting commands and there are tons of really helpful guides on the support site that covers everything. if you went down the route of having several juniper products there is also netscreen security manager, although i'm not a huge fan of it to be honest. get yourself a maintenance contract as this covers hardware failure, software updates and access to the tac. i've only had cause to use the tac a couple of times but they are really helpful.