"Free WIFI"(?)
- Thread starter PPBart
- Start date
You could but you wouldn't want to.
Sadly, a lot do.
Usually you will have a segregated segment or VLAN that doesn't allow traffic into the inside network. Some places are paranoid or don't know how to set up a shared environment and by completely physically separate pieces for the guest network.
Sadly, a lot do.
Usually you will have a segregated segment or VLAN that doesn't allow traffic into the inside network. Some places are paranoid or don't know how to set up a shared environment and by completely physically separate pieces for the guest network.
Geoff
VIP Member
Beers said it very well. You'd likely create a guest VLAN on your network with no interVLAN routing to prevent the guest VLAN from communicating with devices on your other VLAN(s). You'd then configure a trunk port on your switch with your multiple VLANs, and connect your AP. Then you would configure your AP with multiple SSIDs and tag your guest VLAN for the guest SSID.
LOL! I do appreciate the replies, but I'll need a more basic (IOW, network novice) explanation to understand.
Geoff
VIP Member
How large is your small business? How many guests do you expect to be online at once on your public WiFi?
It's not my business. A friend is in the process of establishing a walk-in medical clinic (just signed the lease and contractors have started the internal construction). We had lunch together a couple of days ago and were discussing all the multitude of details she has to take care of. I do have some experience with building contractors, so she wanted my opinion/advice on some suggestions from her contractors. Somewhere in that discussion she mentioned that she planned to provide WIFI access for folks sitting in the waiting room. I got to thinking about that later, and how businesses do that, which prompted my query here.
As for the size of her clinic, all I know is the building has about 1800 sq ft which will be divided up into a front waiting area, several patient treatment rooms, office, storage/records, etc. She has an initial budget based on treating an average of 40(?) patients per day, but I'm sure she hopes that will grow. As for technology, she plans to have a couple of PCs (one of which I assume will be a server) and a couple of tablets running some medical-practice software package.
Just from thinking more about this as I type, I have to wonder about the advisability of allowing any kind of public access to the network in a setting like that...
With the growth of the medical field moving to electronic records, etc. establishing a wireless network would not be hard to do, especially with decent enterprise level networking equipment. I'll revisit this thread later tonight to expand on my thoughts.
My work offers a cloud EHR solution if you're looking for one of those too.
Depending on the budget you all have we (here at CF) can offer some equipment and configuration suggestions too that would normally cost you a consulting fee. Definitely just don't settle for some random consumer grade netgear or something though.
Depending on the budget you all have we (here at CF) can offer some equipment and configuration suggestions too that would normally cost you a consulting fee. Definitely just don't settle for some random consumer grade netgear or something though.
Sorry, I really have no idea... but maybe I could find out next time I speak to my friend.
OK, now I'm getting interested. What is a "cloud EHR solution"?
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Geoff
VIP Member
This is a complicated situation. You may have similar buildings which have a proper network setup with industry-grade hardware, servers, VLANs, etc., and on the other hand you could have a similar business which is using a small business Linksys wireless router from Best Buy. It really comes down to if you want to have a proper network installed, or get by with the bare minimum, as well as the budget you allocate for this project.
You may want to hire a network installer to come to your business to survey, install, and configure your network, as it sounds like you guys are a bit over your head. You can get by with a relatively cheap option if you can figure out the installation and configuration yourself however. I'd recommend a Ubiquity Edge Router, managed gigabit switch(es), and 2-3 Ubiquity UniFi APs.
Something similar to this should be enough to get you started with creating VLANs, connecting client workstations, as well as providing guest WiFi access:
https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-poe/
https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac/
http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-ProSafe-GS724T-300-24-port-Gigabit/dp/B00358MP02
You may want to hire a network installer to come to your business to survey, install, and configure your network, as it sounds like you guys are a bit over your head. You can get by with a relatively cheap option if you can figure out the installation and configuration yourself however. I'd recommend a Ubiquity Edge Router, managed gigabit switch(es), and 2-3 Ubiquity UniFi APs.
Something similar to this should be enough to get you started with creating VLANs, connecting client workstations, as well as providing guest WiFi access:
https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-poe/
https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac/
http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-ProSafe-GS724T-300-24-port-Gigabit/dp/B00358MP02
Software that manages electronic health records. Being 'cloud based' means you don't have to manage the server/database/similar and it's stored within the provider.
I'd do that too, you generally get the best cost/performance although if you aren't hugely familiar with networking the setup itself would be intimidating.
Yeah Ubiquity was what I was going to recommend.
Geoff
VIP Member
I have the Edge Router Lite at home, works very well, but as you said it's a pain to setup even for someone with networking knowledge. They have their own unique layout so it took me a few hours to configure.
I spoke with my friend again this morning (she called me about some other matters) and I took the opportunity to ask some questions about her plans. I apparently misunderstood earlier about the guest WIFI -- she says no plans to offer that. As for the other network issues, she seems to have no real plan yet beyond getting proposals from the local ISPs (Eatel and Cox). Her concept for the network in her clinic is indeed very minimal: 2 or 3 desktops, gateway, a couple of tablets, running a medical practice software, data will be stored in cloud (supposedly, this is the setup in another clinic she's familiar with). Now -- and this is why I'm posting this -- she's asking me to help her with the technology for the clinic, so your "something similar to this" post may prove very helpful!
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Agent Smith
Well-Known Member
Why can't he just bridge a router with WIFI and use a subnet instead of a vLAN?
Geoff
VIP Member
We were under the assumption this was going to be a fairly large network with 40 or so guest users plus local users, in which case a consumer router would not work well under these conditions. This would work for a home user, but not a business.
I thought you were a security guy?
Also, lol, bridge a router with WiFi? The access point already bridges wired and wireless segments. On another vlan you would also have another subnet so that's wholly redundant. If you just overlapped subnets on the same vlan you could easily see all of the broadcast traffic on that network and would have real problems trying to assign DHCP addresses...