# Need some small business networking advice...



## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

The building owners have my business & another business sharing the same internet connection. I need to put some kind of firewall between us & them, as well as limit the other business's bandwidth.

Basically, the internet account is under my business name. The other business is always downloading P2P music & gets virus's all the time. So I need to keep their crap from getting on my computers, as well as limit their bandwidth so that they aren't hogging it all to download crap. The building owners are my best friends parents, so I can do what I want with the network.

I'm thinking what I need is a firewall, but I haven't networked anything for about 8 years. So I would appreciate some help/ideas from the IT guys around here.

Thanks!


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

Most likely need a switch running off the router you guys share so you're on a different subnet and block all traffic coming from his subnet/network with the switch going to your side. As far as limiting bandwidth, you would need a router that can deal with QoS (quality of service) and limit crap like P2P speeds and such. Don't need some super high enterprise router, just something average and stick ddwrt on it or openwrt (make sure it's compatible with them first). It would have to run in front of both of your networks so you can manage both at the same time.


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

yarly said:


> Most likely need a switch running off the router you guys share so you're on a different subnet and block all traffic coming from his subnet/network. As far as limiting bandwidth, you would need a router that can deal with QoS (quality of service) and limit crap like P2P speeds and such. Don't need some super high enterprise router, just something average and stick ddwrt on it or openwrt (make sure it's compatible with them first). It would have to run in front of both of your networks so you can manage both at the same time.


Thanks a lot Yarly! Researching now...


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## jellybellys (Apr 3, 2012)

Have you taken a look at this yet: http://markmaunder.c...colleague-uses/
Might be exactly what you need.

Edit: yarly your a ninja.


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

jellybellys said:


> Have you taken a look at this yet: http://markmaunder.c...colleague-uses/
> Might be exactly what you need.
> 
> Edit: yarly your a ninja.


Thank you sir! Good read


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

brkshr said:


> Thanks a lot Yarly! Researching now...


Ask questions if you find something you're unsure about. I know a fair amount about network setup. I was into doing the Cisco BS certification for a while, but that stuff is so boring despite how much it can pay I couldn't deal with it anymore. Much more interesting stuff out there in computer science/development than that just from my interests.


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

yarly said:


> Ask questions if you find something you're unsure about. I know a fair amount about network setup. I was into doing the Cisco BS certification for a while, but that stuff is so boring despite how much it can pay I couldn't deal with it anymore. Much more interesting stuff out there in computer science/development than that just from my interests.


I figured you knew your stuff. Everything you post on Rootz seems to be fact. Right now I'm looking at getting a Netgear wndr3400 or wndr3700, so I can install the ddwrt firmware. My last wndr3400 did great for awhile, until a power surge killed it. I'm looking for a switch now.


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

Netgear makes some decent stuff. Some of the routers Asus has may also be good. I think a few come with openwrt or ddwrt by default, but they kind of kill/dumb down the interface sort of like what OEMs do on Android, haha.

As long as you stay away from the re branded Linksys stuff that is now labeled as Cisco, should be good to go. It was all downhill from Linksys after Cisco consumed them totally.


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

yarly said:


> Netgear makes some decent stuff. Some of the routers Asus has may also be good. I think a few come with openwrt or ddwrt by default, but they kind of kill/dumb down the interface sort of like what OEMs do on Android, haha.
> 
> As long as you stay away from the re branded Linksys stuff that is now labeled as Cisco, should be good to go. It was all downhill from Linksys after Cisco consumed them totally.


I'll check out the Asus stuff. If it does come with the ...wrt by default, I would rather go that route.

I did notice that LinkSys turned to crap. I've been through 4 of those since Cisco took over. I won't be going back to Linksys/Cisco.


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