Router after a switch?

[20redfire03]

Is it possible to install a router after a switch? Currently, the set up is modem, switch and then the switch distributes the wires across the office. What is wanted to be done is adding a router after one of the ports in an office to give a wireless signal, so modem, switch, router. Can this be done or would it have to be modem, router, then switch?

Edit** Just looked at the set up again, it is now modem, a Cisco SA 520 Security Appliance, then switch.

 

[offroadkarter]

You could always just install a wireless access point instead of a router.

 

[20redfire03]

You could always just install a wireless access point instead of a router.

That seems to be inline with what I have read so far but they wanted the router in an office which is currently using the port the router in question would use. So in the office it be wall, router with a computer connected. Mainly they want a wireless signal in the office and since I am the youngest, most tech savy compared to them its on me to do haha.

 

[venom_inc]

Is it possible to install a router after a switch? Currently, the set up is modem, switch and then the switch distributes the wires across the office. What is wanted to be done is adding a router after one of the ports in an office to give a wireless signal, so modem, switch, router. Can this be done or would it have to be modem, router, then switch?

Edit** Just looked at the set up again, it is now modem, a Cisco SA 520 Security Appliance, then switch.

I wasn't 100% sure but this response pretty much confirmed what I was thinking.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1970544/ethernet-switch-router.html

 

[Machdup1]

Just add a WAP. Look at these. They are a new'ish company that has some good, inexpensive products:

http://www.ubnt.com/unifi

The only question is how will you get power to the WAP for this type of WAP.

BTW, what part of Virginia are you in?

 

[offroadkarter]

I wasn't 100% sure but this response pretty much confirmed what I was thinking.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1970544/ethernet-switch-router.html

^this and this. OP the cisco 520 is doing role of what a router would do in a house. You don't need, nor can you use a router after the switch. The router is there to create an internal LAN for multiple devices but you don't need that as you already have something doing that job. A wireless access point is literally the way you want to go, unless they want to upgrade that cisco 520 to a 520W or similar with WAP's built in.

 

[20redfire03]

So what my boss wants most likely won't work or it wont be as simple as they believe and I at least thought it could work but knew issues could come up. I'm sure we can add wireless capabilities to our current set up but how to go about it, I am not quite sure. Could I add a router (I'm guessing this would be unnecessary before a switch) or a wireless AP to create a wireless signal between the modem and cisco sa 520 or between the sa 520 and switch?

And I'm about an hour South or so of Richmond in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Zerohe]

In short, No. Routing and Switching are similar but not the same thing. Depending on the size of your organization, you may want to look into a 24 or 48 port switch and then you can add in access points into the switch. If you put a router after a switch down the line from your network, good luck getting anything to go anywhere. you'll have all types of headaches with trying to route switched data. Had a neighbor that had a crackhead(father in law) setup her home network. they wondered why they couldn't get internet to work or the kids couldnt hook their DS up to it. He had hooked one of those garbage linksys WRT54( blue router that everyone owned at one time) into their AT&T U verse router. OMG im like heres your problem! you're routing into a router!

 

[20redfire03]

We have a 48 port switch now. It has 13 open ports. The others are going to the other computers various equipment in the office/lab area. So we would need an Access Point to create the wireless signal? And I guess once that is plugged into one of the open ports I can access it like you a router on a home network to configure it?

 

[offroadkarter]

All you have to do is feed a WAP to your switch. If you put a router between the modem and switch you'd literally throw your entire network to hell. I'm sure everything has been subnetted a specific way.

 

[20redfire03]

Sounds good. I will let the boss know what I have learned and what is needed, a wireless access point added to our switch. And I'm sure the network is set up a certain way but not much has changed in the years I have been here excepted they blocked a few sites and music streaming. For the most part I believe its fairly basic.

 

[jdoyle]

20redfire03 id like to ask a home networking question after you get taken care of. I dont want to hijack. I am in my first home and i will be switching ISPs soon and it looks like what I want to do is not as easy as I think based on what I have read in this thread so far. how would you like to handle this? (I start new thread, ask now, ask later, etc.)

 

[Guy Fawkes]

If everything is setup as DHCP yeah its no problem to add a 'router' to the switch. I assume you mean the type of router you goto bestbuy that has wireless. You just have to go into the admin panel of the router and set it to ... hell I forget the name off the top of my head. But basically set the router to dhcp which it should already be and the switch will assign the router an IP to use. Then the router will have its own subnet and all that. But it wont matter.

But yeah a simple WAP connected to the switch port will work. Same thing really but its just dumber version of a wireless router.

 

[20redfire03]

The simpler the better haha. I'm going to try the WAP off the existing switch. If that works but has a weak signal I will get another small switch, 5 port, like we are using in another part of the office and add the WAP to that. Also, with the WAP I will be able to access it like a router to set up the password and network name?

And jdoyle, I don't mind you asking question in the thread but starting a new one may help keep things less confusing once I actually start trying to set up the WAP and have questions. What is probably making it seem harder is due to the system here at my work being already established, I would think starting from scratch would make it worlds easier as you can set it up for all the features you want from the start. Only reason I started the thread is because my router experience only stems to home networks but even then its not all that technical in what I know, I'd probably be considered dumb compared to most who have helped answer.

 

[thomas91169]

Yeah trying to make a router into a switch, youre gonna have a bad time.

Its possible, but unless you have one lying around and know what youre doing and dont want to spend $5-10 on amazon for a switch, do not attempt.

 

[offroadkarter]

unless the WAP has some proprietary interface setup or something, you can access a GUI to set it up just like a router. It should also give off a strong signal. How big is the building you are in?

 

[20redfire03]

Not very big. No more square footage than a small house maybe more not sure but it's not needed to cover much. Fairly open so the walls shouldn't affect much. From what I've looked at so far it'll be $20-$80, either way it should work for what they want.

 

[ShadowFist]

As it has been said, yes it is possible. However, if you don't know EXACTLY what you are doing, don't attempt it. The blame game is not fun to play when things don't work 'as expected' (especially for the big boss). Spending the small amount on a dedicated WAP will be a wise investment in the long run as they have tech support who is generally specialized in WAP's if things 'dun worka right'

Something else to keep in mind: Cheap, Easy, Secure. You can only pick two. Depending on the type of business you are in, if there is 'protected personal information' on the network (ANYWHERE!), you should probably contact a wireless (security) expert to cover your liabilities so you wont need to worry as much about data breaches/loss. The government takes personal information very seriously. The fines are brutal (think 5-7 figures depending on severity).

Hopefully you don't work at this kind of business as its significantly easier to deal with on the IT side of things...

:beer:

 

[svtaddict]

you could manually assign an ip to the router and it might work. also at work we sometimes hook another router to our router by connecting the cat-5 from our router to one of the outputs of the second router and it still works most of the time. that cisco security device might give you problems. i agree with the post above use an extender. Also i agree with the above post installing another router and not having admin. rights can be a big problem and can lock up the dhcp.

 

[03 KB Sonic Blue]

Just add a WAP like others have mentioned.

I use engenious access points. Right around 100 bucks for a gigabit access point and can do multiple on a system. Have one house with 3 of them in it.