Evening,
My missus and I took over a B&B in summer, now it's quiet I'm sorting out the networking situation.
Originally there was one broadband connection (can only get 2mb here) plugged into a bunch of various access points via cat5 run over the building through the loft.
What I have done so far is replace most of the access points with 3 Linksys LAPN300 ceiling mounted PoE APs, this is better as the previous old APs were in the loft and always crashing. I got an unmanaged POE gigabit switch to power them.
I've also got another broadband connection and started running CAT6 from a patch panel to a few places like the office. This replaces CAT5 which was run messily and terminated with plugs.
Currently I use the second broadband connection which is an entirely separate network and there are a couple of APs attached.
What I would like to do is make it so that the whole B&B has one network, but have it so that it is segregated - the guests can access open Wifi networks. The staff can use passworded SSIDs and hardwired points but the two don't talk to each other. The two broadband connections would be shared between everyone, but we would get priority.
From a little research it seems that VLANs would be the way to do it. I have a Draytek Vigor 2830n which is currently unused which seems to have all the features I would need to implement load balancing and VLANs, and the Linksys APs also support multiple SSIDs on different VLANS.
What I was wondering if this is the best approach and to achieve it. The Draytek seems a complex beast and I am struggling to configure it. Also I was wondering how an unmanaged switch will handle VLANs. The Netgear GS108PE I bought might not be up to the job. In the future I will probably replace it with a Smart Switch as I will need more POE and other ports for CCTV cameras next year.
My missus and I took over a B&B in summer, now it's quiet I'm sorting out the networking situation.
Originally there was one broadband connection (can only get 2mb here) plugged into a bunch of various access points via cat5 run over the building through the loft.
What I have done so far is replace most of the access points with 3 Linksys LAPN300 ceiling mounted PoE APs, this is better as the previous old APs were in the loft and always crashing. I got an unmanaged POE gigabit switch to power them.
I've also got another broadband connection and started running CAT6 from a patch panel to a few places like the office. This replaces CAT5 which was run messily and terminated with plugs.
Currently I use the second broadband connection which is an entirely separate network and there are a couple of APs attached.
What I would like to do is make it so that the whole B&B has one network, but have it so that it is segregated - the guests can access open Wifi networks. The staff can use passworded SSIDs and hardwired points but the two don't talk to each other. The two broadband connections would be shared between everyone, but we would get priority.
From a little research it seems that VLANs would be the way to do it. I have a Draytek Vigor 2830n which is currently unused which seems to have all the features I would need to implement load balancing and VLANs, and the Linksys APs also support multiple SSIDs on different VLANS.
What I was wondering if this is the best approach and to achieve it. The Draytek seems a complex beast and I am struggling to configure it. Also I was wondering how an unmanaged switch will handle VLANs. The Netgear GS108PE I bought might not be up to the job. In the future I will probably replace it with a Smart Switch as I will need more POE and other ports for CCTV cameras next year.
