Linking 3 remote offices to include Exchange functionality

[oldbag]

If you site an Exchange server in one place and the other sites remote to it over a site-to-site VPN you need the upload capacity.

 

[5tephen]

If there are file servers anyway, may as well use them for authentication.

I'd set up the ADSL as I described it with a pair of Cisco routers (yes, expensive I know). An 1841 with 2x ADSL WIC cards at each site means that you can have both ADSL connections at each end going into the same router. Once you've done that, set up a couple of tunnels between the sites (each tunnel going over different ADSL links to the other). Then you can set up a routing protocol of choice (OSPF or EIGRP) on the tunnel interfaces, if you assign them the same cost then you'll be able to round robin load balence between the links. Total cost is something like £700 per site for the router and ADSL cards and somebody who know how to configure that up on a cisco.

Thats my preferred way of increasing bandwidth for sites with only ADSL available and we've used it quite a few times with no problems.

The other option, if the client has the money, is to get a real business ISP involved to look at the connectivity and let you concentrate on the server side. They'll likely come up with something a lot like I've just suggested though, because they'll have somebody like me on their technical team to design solutions.

That will probably work out about the same or a bit less than the £250 per month I've seen quoted for SDSL connections. Plus the fact that it could be set up on the other two offices which don't have SDSL capability anyway. Will look into that. There is a local ISP who are quite reputable that I might approach but as you say, I can't see them straying much from what you've stated above.

*edit - I've just looked at a Draytek 2910 with two WAN ports connected. It's possible to create two tunnels with it - one using WAN1 only and the other using WAN2 only. If I set up two VPN's on it and two VPN's to a 2910 on another site, would that achieve something similar to the Cisco? I'm aware of the greater stability of the Cisco, but in what other ways does it improve on?

 

[bigredshark]

That will probably work out about the same or a bit less than the £250 per month I've seen quoted for SDSL connections. Plus the fact that it could be set up on the other two offices which don't have SDSL capability anyway. Will look into that. There is a local ISP who are quite reputable that I might approach but as you say, I can't see them straying much from what you've stated above.

*edit - I've just looked at a Draytek 2910 with two WAN ports connected. It's possible to create two tunnels with it - one using WAN1 only and the other using WAN2 only. If I set up two VPN's on it and two VPN's to a 2910 on another site, would that achieve something similar to the Cisco? I'm aware of the greater stability of the Cisco, but in what other ways does it improve on?

I dont know the draytek product line at all. If it can run a routing protocol (OSPF probably if it can) then it can achieve the same thing as the cisco. If not, whether you can load balance or not is a bit of a question.

I'd actually stick with SDSL where you can get it, it's more reliable and 2mb upload will make a difference. The ADSL solution is neat though and a great way to do things when SDSL isn't available. You can also do the same thing with 2x SDSL circuits and get a 4mb line for less than you'll get 4mb over fibre (outside london at least)

 

[Sone]

please note if you are planning to do something like this put the order in yourself.

We were planning something and he boss decied to have the 2 lines in differant buildings incase of fire (around 600m Appart!). Makes it a real pita to get a hardware solution