I have a network consisting of three servers in a data center, all of which are connected to each other via a switch.
In addition to this I need this network to access 4 additional networks, most of which are provided via cross connects to other data centers, as well as the Internet.
Basically the networks are as follows:
- LocalNetwork (192.168.0.1)
- Equinex (10.4.131.1)
- Atrium (204.10.83.1)
- Internet (…)
- HongKong (10.10.101.1)
I have hired a network professional to give advice but his solution involved 3 routers which individually cost 1200 dollars a piece and a switch and it's still having issues.
I am not a network professional myself, only a developer, but I believe as though this should only require one single switch to connect the three server computers together to form LocalNetwork, and one single router to connect the 5 networks together.
My issue is that every router I've seen seems to just be a switch with one WAN port to connect to the Internet. Is there not an example of a basic router that has say 5 or more ports in it that allow me to connect 5 networks together? Can I not just solve this problem with a single switch and a single router?
Best Answer
3 routers sounds like overkill to me but it would be interesting to see the topology and hear him explain the reason behind it.
Depending on your requirements for redundancy and/or loadbalancing a 1921/1941 could be fine for your needs. That would be only one device because it has both routing and switching if you stick a HWIC Etherswitch card in it.
The high availability design would be to have two routers and two switches but then the servers should be dually connected as well.