Switch routers and firewalls
Switches , Routers , Firewall and Wireless Solutions
OnPoint Technology Ltd. can build your network from the ground up or provide corrective maintenance to your existing network. We have the expertise to design, plan, and implement a wide array of networking products like routers, switches, firewalls, wireless controllers and wireless access points. We can assist you in choosing the right Internet Service Provider (ISP) and Internet products for your business needs. Below are some of the solutions we commonly deploy.
Cisco Switches and Routers These are the entry-level Cisco switches and Routers that fit great into Small Business networks and budgets. They come in many flavors; from 8-48 ports 10/100/1000 and Power Over Ethernet (POE) to power up IP Phones or Wireless Access Points. They provide VLAN and QOS features and come backed with a Limited Lifetime Warranty.
Cisco ASA FirewallsThis is Cisco’s new line of firewalls, replacing its predecessor the Cisco PIX firewall. It has many great enhancements but continues to deliver the best security for your network. There are a few models to choose from that fit well into Small Business networks. They come in 10 users, 50 users, or unlimited users license structure. They offer IPSec VPNs for both remote users and remote offices. They also can perform SSL VPNs to provide a client-less VPN connection to your network.
ROUTERS
A local router (sometimes called a Gateway) is the first device in your network that gives you internet connectivity. It sits between your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and determines which network traffic should be passed through to the ISP (internet) versus which traffic should remain in your network.
Routers are the backbone of the internet. You could not browse the web or communicate via email without them. There are even huge routers that process hundreds (or thousands) of gigabits of traffic per day that ISPs manage, and which enable ISPs to be able to pass massive amounts of information back and forth.
Your local router typically has two IP addresses: a public IP address and a private IP address. If your local network traffic is meant to reach the internet (such as someone browsing the web), then your router will automatically “route” the traffic that reaches its private IP address to the public IP address (and vice-versa) so that traffic can flow between the ISP and the local network.
A real-world example:
Billy and Jane work in an office and use a server to back up all of their files. They also use the internet.
Their office has a public IP address given to them by their ISP, 50.116.32.91 (this IP address is actually an IP address we use at OnPoint Technologies L.T.D but we’ll use it for this example). Whenever they browse the internet, Billy and Jane are identified to the outside world by this IP public address.
However, their private IP addresses are completely different. Billy’s unique IP address is 10.0.0.4, Jane’s is 10.0.0.5, and the copier’s IP address is 10.0.0.3. The server would have an IP address of 10.0.0.2, and the router even has a private IP address of 10.0.0.1.
When Billy wants to browse the internet (such as visit Google’s website), his computer (10.0.0.3) first contacts the router (10.0.0.1) and asks the router to connect him to Google’s website. The router (10.0.0.1) processes this request, and automatically knows the information should be passed on to the ISP for further processing. So the router then contacts the ISP through its public IP address (66.228.59.103).
The ISP (which has a different unique IP address) then routes the request to another router, which gets passed to yet another router. This process keeps happening until the request reaches one of Google’s routers which then finally pass the request to the webserver (and then the process of sending the webpage data is reversed until the website reaches Billy’s computer.
In summary, routers “route” information between different networks.
SWITCHES
Most switches don’t have routing capabilities, and are only used inside a network. They help computers and other network devices communicate with each other. Since devices inside the same network are on the same “subnet” (i.e. their IP address share the first three octets), they don’t need a router to “route” traffic between each other.
Building upon the example in which Billy and Jane live, the switch would be directly connected to the router, but each internal network device would be connected to the switch. In this scenario, if Billy were to backup data from his computer (10.0.0.4) onto the server (at 10.0.0.2), the data would pass through the switch, but wouldn’t touch the router!
As you can probably guess, if Billy & Jane’s internet connection to the outside world were to go down, and/or if their router were to break, they would still be able to communicate internally with the local server using the switch.
Some switches have a whole lot more capabilities than others, but since we’re only taking a birds-eye view, I won’t go into these details in this blog post.
FIREWALLS
Unlike routers and switches, firewalls are network security appliances. There are two types of hardware firewalls: perimeter firewalls and internal firewalls. Most smaller networks typically have just perimeter hardware firewalls, which control access and secure local networks from the outside world. For this reason, most perimeter firewalls also have routing capabilities (although that is not a requirement).
While routers (without firewall capabilities) blindly pass traffic between two separate networks, firewalls actually monitor the traffic and helps block unauthorized traffic coming from the outside trying to get into your network. Some firewalls even have anti-virus and anti-spam mechanisms to protect your network from viruses and unwanted email!
In addition to hardware firewalls, there are programs you can install onto your computer or server that acts as a software firewall, such as several software anti-virus products. Microsoft has even included a Windows Firewall which comes with Microsoft Windows. These programs have limitations and are typically not as sophisticated as a hardware firewall and have several disadvantages. However, they are a great first step.
In summary, routers, switches and firewalls are three unique types of network devices that serve different functions. Some appliances can be purchased which have two or even all three of these features, but typically, it is best to purchase each device separately, especially as a network grows and becomes more complicated.
Article Summary
Here is what we have learned:
Routers work at Layer 3 and route IP packets between networks.
Routers are used to connect a LAN to a WAN (such as your small network to the Internet) but they can also be used to connect segments of a large LAN that has been subnetted into smaller segments.
Routers route packets based on information in the IP routing table. You can see this table with the show ip route command on a Cisco router.
Switches work at Layer 2 and switch Ethernet frames. Switches connect multiple devices on a local area network (LAN).
Switches keep a table of Ethernet MAC addresses called a CAM Table or a Bridge forwarding table. You can see this table with the show mac-address-table command on a Cisco switch.
Firewalls work at Layers 3 and 4 but some can also work at higher layers.
Most firewalls can keep track of the states of TCP to prevent unwanted traffic from the Internet from entering your private LAN.
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