Small office setup

[Mark M]

im moving into a new office and wondering what is the best way to set the network up. We’re only a tiny outfit but I’d like to get it set up correctly from the outset if possible. Here is what we have:
3 pcs, printer and scanner that will need hardwiring (cat 5 in trunking is already in place)
2 laptops/tablets (and mobiles) via WiFi
3 voip phones that require poe

There is also an office that I’m going to rent out and will want to provide Internet to them but want to keep them away from our network so think il need a managed switch to set up a Vlan for them?

I’m only going to have one internet connection initially. I know it’s advisable to have 2 if you’re using voip phones but as there is only ever a few calls per day I’m hoping we will be fine.

Would you use a managed switch and then 1 switch for the IT and another for the phones or does it not matter?

Anything else I need to consider? Thanks.

 

[paradigm]

One decent layer-3 switch with enough ports for everything should be all you need from the outset. I'd only really bother with additional switches if you need a storage network or similar high-throughput traffic that warrants a different MTU and could end up throttling the client network. I guess you could go down the route of two switches and a firewall, and physically segregate the "rented out" office space from your own, but you can easily segregate with a simple ACL on a single switch that's vlan'd appropriately.

Put the gateway (router) in one vlan, your own LAN in another, VOIP in a third and the guest/rented in a fourth. Allow all access to the gateway, and keep the guest/rented traffic out of your LAN and VOIP subnets.

 

[Mark M]

Thanks for the advice. Can you recommend a suitable layer 3 switch that is suitable for such a modest network? A quick google seems to suggest they go from £100 to £5k!

 

[Sparky__H]

I use a v1910s + cli unlock
* Gigabit on all ports not just SFPs
* Firmware is free to download
* Can run without fan (Mod)
* Great documentation (Old switch lots of info about)
* Low power draw (Non-POE)
* Lights are mild and non-retina destroying.
* Cheap & easy to replace.

 

[Avalon]

They do a v1910 with PoE from memory (JE007A rather that 6A for the 24 port), as the op specifically says PoE for his VoIP phones is a requirement this may be a better choice. Another option is to use a cheap PoE switch - I used a 100mbit TPLink unit to do exactly this for several years with a few SNOM 3x0’s and CCTV without issue.

 

[Caged]

You don't need a L3 switch. If the majority of your traffic is between your end devices and the Internet then you don't really gain anything from an L3 switch. You can just put multiple VLANs on a router and trunk that to the switch.