student needs help please: routers, serial ports & IP's

[Gow]

Hi
I'm a student doing networking and i have a couple of problems with routers...
i have an assignment to design a network that has a connection to the internet.
i also have to set up 5 LAN's within the company that can use the internet.
all i have been told is that i can assume that i have 1 multiport router, would i connect the mutiport router to the internet connection and then daisychain the 5 LAN routers to this???

i have most of the information i need, but, i do have a couple of questions

1). what is a multiport router and how does it differ from a normal one?
can anydody answer this or point me in the direction of an answer???

2). When connecting the routers (that will connect the LAN's) with a serial cable, the serial ports need an IP address....
can these IP's be any thing i like or do they have to have a certain range????

Thank you for your time and input

Gow

 

[Nutz]

I always keep serial ports on their own subnets. I usally reserve a /24 and subnet them with /30 for point to point links.

Here is a quick diagramI did for ya.

 

[Odoacer]

Okay dude, I have no clue about 90% of what you just said (not a network guru here), but I think its possible to have the 5 LAN's connected with switches and then connecting the switches to your multiport router. It'd be cheaper, thats for sure, but i could be COMPLETELY wrong here.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Well, the best design would pretty much be what you said, multiport router connected to internet. The ports from the multiport router connected to other routers going to the 5 subnets. Those routers should then be connected to whatever system you will be using (possibly 1 gigbit fiber) and that connected to a multiport switch or fiber device to split out to all other switches/fiber in the network closets across the plant/facility/building, then those switches connect to the cubicules/offices/computers. It would be best if the servers could be connected at the first level where the routers goes to that first switch/fiber connection, but it is not neccessary (but gives the highest bandwidth to the servers).

 

[Nutz]

Fallen, you mind diagraming this for us? I'm not sure I'm reading you right...



<< Those routers should then be connected to whatever system you will be using (possibly 1 gigbit fiber) and that connected to a multiport switch or fiber device to split out to all other switches/fiber in the network closets across the plant/facility/building, then those switches connect to the cubicules/offices/computers >>



So the idea is that from the 2500s E0 the network turns into a switched network. That was the idea I intended. Throw in some catalyst 1900, 2900, or 2950s and you're all set. I really can't comment on using higher end stuff because I simply don't have any experience on it. I'd love to say to just VLAN on a 5500 straigh off the 3640, but I'd never be able to walk him through it. Hell, I've only seen a 5000 series once in my life when I went to a class, but we couldnt even touch it since it was a production device.

 

[Gow]

These replys are all valid points, these have helped me, and i thank you for these...

BUT.......

I still need to know the answers to the 2 questions at the bottom of my post

1) The multiport router... does it have mutiple ethernet ports?.... what other ports does it have?.... is a multiport router the only one that can connect to the internet?...

If someone knows this or can point me to a site that does that would be great...

and

2). The ip addresses between serial ports.... Where does the IP that is assigned to the serial ports come from???

if i was connecting 2 routers via their serial ports what IP can i use??

are they a diriviative of the default routers IP, or can this IP be anything i want e.g. (router 1) serial 0: 10.20.30.1 (router 2) serial 1: 10.20.30.2


Thanks again for your time and input
Gow

 

[GigaCluster]

<< student needs help please: routers, serial ports & IP's >>


Student needs to learn that an apostrophe is only used to indicate ownership.
It should be IPs. Same goes for "LAN's" -- LANs.

 

[Garion]

A multiport router is just that - A router with multiple interfaces. Actually, by definition, ALL routers are multiport - That's what they do, send traffic between different networks. (OK, it's possible to have a one-armed router for you purists, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion).

You would only need one router in this scenario - One interface goes out to the Internet, then use five other interfaces on the SAME router to connect to the five different subnets on the network. Very simple.

- G