spec me a load balancer and a poe rack switch

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looking for a recommendation for a not too pricey load balancer for our work cabinet (small officer single full hieight cab with little in the way of population other than a single server a 48 port switch and a pair of 24 port patch panels


we currently have one connection incoming (Talk talk LLU Broadband) with a hyperoptic connection going in shortly

I only need to be able to use one at a time but would like to have automatic fallover in case of an outage) using both connections would be a nice to have but my technical knowledge is limited beyond firing it into the rack and connecting up and following some simple instructions so keep it simple is the preferred option unless its an easy change

also looking to switch our decrepit 10/100 switch out for a gigabit unit with POE to capitlise on the new 1gb connection thats coming in as well as hopefully see some faster transfers across the network overall. the advantage of switching to POE is i can then power our phones over ethernet and remove umpteen additional cables under desks and generally keep things a bit neater.

Budget wise? i'd rather keep it cheap and simple - small company without a massive pot of cash so cost saving is always a bonus and have been having a quick look on ebay at second hand switchgear already


any suggestions or feedback would be welcome please
 
What you are looking for is dual WAN, not a load balancer. You could look at Draytek for the Firewall and then get a Mikrotik POE switch.

Or a UniFi Dream Machine Pro which will go into your existing rack along with USW-48-POE.

Both options would require an Access Point if your existing router does the Wi-Fi.

What Firewall/router do Hyperoptic supply?

On the cheap you could order an appliance with multiple ports on it and install OPNsense onto it, and then get a cheap 48 port PoE switch, but this option and using Draytek/Mikrotik will require some for of learning curve. UniFi is very easy to manage.
 
Putting my reservations about providing free advice to someone to use at work aside for a moment, I don't understand the mindset that says whatever you are doing is important enough for two internet connections, but not important enough to at least have a switch with a warranty.

I'm not a huge Ubiquiti fan but your use case seems simple enough, and a UDM-SE gives you 8 PoE ports, a USW-Pro-48 covers your switching requirements, and then add a couple of U6-Pro APs depending on how much you need to cover, and you have a very good setup for about £1000.
 
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Cheers chris the udm looks ideal and might be a good stepping stone on the my first network ladder. The ubiquti Poe does seem a tad pricy though ouch
 
Caged said:
Putting my reservations about providing free advice to someone to use at work aside for a moment, I don't understand the mindset that says whatever you are doing is important enough for two internet connections, but not important enough to at least have a switch with a warranty that gets you a replacement the next day to the extent that you're trawling eBay.

I'm not a huge Ubiquiti fan but your use case seems simple enough, and a UDM-SE gives you 8 PoE ports, a USW-Pro-48 covers your switching requirements, and then add a couple of U6-Pro APs depending on how much you need to cover, and you have a very good setup for about £1000.
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Good shout on the APs as well

Fwiw it’s my company and we’re growing quickly but I’m a miserable Scotsman so like to indulge in a bit of penny pinching on things where I can

A 24/7 connection is vital (taxi office) and in my very limited experience I’ve never seen a switch fail, but I’ve seen our internet go out for hours at a time.

Given that these days that’s all voice and data traffic. A backup is vital hence 2 completely seperate systems. Hyperoptic and BT openreach
 
Firstly I'd check that the service you're using can handle failing over, if you are using things that rely on your public IP addresses not changing then you might be better served by something like BT Business Broadband with their 4G failover, and Vodafone offer something very similar.
 
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