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Please point me in the right direction.

Marcel F.

Hello, I am new, my name is Marcel Fernandez and I have followed Linus Tech Tips Youtube Channel for almost two years now, I have checked on the forums but never participated, I usually never have to post anything anywhere because a thorough search will always get you what you want, but in this case, I am lost.

 

I am an average PC/Tech user with a little passion for solving problems, getting things done the right way etc... But I have been away from the Networking/Programming areas for quite some time now and I am very rusty and possess little to no knowledge on professional solutions to different needs, I always get a round with a free-ware software solution for any of my problems, but today I face a new challenge, I was given the IT department of a Water Entertainment park, basically I am responsible for everything, so far so good, everything is working fine since it is only a 30 client(workstations) network plus around 15 IP phones and some wifi, but I am trying to implement, real security, firewalls, active directory, network antiviruses etc...

 

I will make a list of the things I need the most and maybe some of you guys can point me in the right direction, I do not need to be baby-sited, just mention the right solution and I will dig and do it on my own, thanks in advance.

 

Right now the most important thing for me is to control everything that moves in my network, throttle bandwidth, limit access to devices to certain sites and programs like torrents etc... I know I can use QoS on my router, use active directory to restrain access to certain services etc, but what is the most efficient way of:

-Limiting bandwidth(not through the network internally, but to the internet)

-Limit access to certain websites(AD?)

-Limit bandwidth on mobile devices and access to certain websites connected through WiFi

-QoS without having to log into my router because I do not know the password as of now and I do not want to go through the trouble of re-programming it(Cisco 2800 series) until low season is here in case I mess up something

-Have all the data go through a server to control everything as much as I can(if possible)

 

Overall, I don't know if there is any centralized solution for all my problems, some sort of gateway application to run on windows server 2008 r2 or maybe some service in the windows server itself.

 

Other things I am looking forward to:

-Charging clients for WiFi access, generating some sort of temporal password upon payments (Example: pay 2 USD and get 4 hours of access or gain access upon buying the ticket to enter the park) Why ? because employees would have to be giving passwords out to clients if it was free, and they would just use it for themselves and waste a lot of time instead in social networks and games instead of doing their jobs.

-Best Cost Effective network antivirus out there ?

-In the future not just QoS, but also bandwidth reservation for certain IP's so that workstation or server has certain amount of bandwidth always available no matter what.

 

Equipment I currently have available:

-Cisco 2800 Series

-HP ProLiant ML310e Gen8 Server (available for anything)

-Dell 2850 Server (available for anything)

-Custom i5 DHCP, File/Printer Sharing server and Storage Server (2x Raid Arrays with 4x 3TB in raid 0+1 and 2x 500gb in Raid 1)

-Elastix PBX Server (running perfectly atm)

-30 Windows Workstations

-15 VoIP Phones

-4 WiFi AP's

-4 TP/Link 24 Port Switches(Was here before I started working, don't know why they purchased so many switches, they said it was to split the stress on each device)

 

So I know it is a lot of information in just one post, I do not intend to get a detail answer to the things I ask here, I have done my research and have some idea of what to do for each of the environments I want to control, but I am looking for recommendations and to be pointed in the right direction so I don't waste the companies money and my time doing things twice.

 

Thank you very much to whoever takes the time to read and extra thanks if you have anything to say about this.

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Hello, I am new, my name is Marcel Fernandez and I have followed Linus Tech Tips Youtube Channel for almost two years now, I have checked on the forums but never participated, I usually never have to post anything anywhere because a thorough search will always get you what you want, but in this case, I am lost.

 

I am an average PC/Tech user with a little passion for solving problems, getting things done the right way etc... But I have been away from the Networking/Programming areas for quite some time now and I am very rusty and possess little to no knowledge on professional solutions to different needs, I always get a round with a free-ware software solution for any of my problems, but today I face a new challenge, I was given the IT department of a Water Entertainment park, basically I am responsible for everything, so far so good, everything is working fine since it is only a 30 client(workstations) network plus around 15 IP phones and some wifi, but I am trying to implement, real security, firewalls, active directory, network antiviruses etc...

 

I will make a list of the things I need the most and maybe some of you guys can point me in the right direction, I do not need to be baby-sited, just mention the right solution and I will dig and do it on my own, thanks in advance.

 

Right now the most important thing for me is to control everything that moves in my network, throttle bandwidth, limit access to devices to certain sites and programs like torrents etc... I know I can use QoS on my router, use active directory to restrain access to certain services etc, but what is the most efficient way of:

-Limiting bandwidth(not through the network internally, but to the internet)

-Limit access to certain websites(AD?)

-Limit bandwidth on mobile devices and access to certain websites connected through WiFi

-QoS without having to log into my router because I do not know the password as of now and I do not want to go through the trouble of re-programming it(Cisco 2800 series) until low season is here in case I mess up something

-Have all the data go through a server to control everything as much as I can(if possible)

 

Overall, I don't know if there is any centralized solution for all my problems, some sort of gateway application to run on windows server 2008 r2 or maybe some service in the windows server itself.

 

Other things I am looking forward to:

-Charging clients for WiFi access, generating some sort of temporal password upon payments (Example: pay 2 USD and get 4 hours of access or gain access upon buying the ticket to enter the park) Why ? because employees would have to be giving passwords out to clients if it was free, and they would just use it for themselves and waste a lot of time instead in social networks and games instead of doing their jobs.

-Best Cost Effective network antivirus out there ?

-In the future not just QoS, but also bandwidth reservation for certain IP's so that workstation or server has certain amount of bandwidth always available no matter what.

 

Equipment I currently have available:

-Cisco 2800 Series

-HP ProLiant ML310e Gen8 Server (available for anything)

-Dell 2850 Server (available for anything)

-Custom i5 DHCP, File/Printer Sharing server and Storage Server (2x Raid Arrays with 4x 3TB in raid 0+1 and 2x 500gb in Raid 1)

-Elastix PBX Server (running perfectly atm)

-30 Windows Workstations

-15 VoIP Phones

-4 WiFi AP's

-4 TP/Link 24 Port Switches(Was here before I started working, don't know why they purchased so many switches, they said it was to split the stress on each device)

 

So I know it is a lot of information in just one post, I do not intend to get a detail answer to the things I ask here, I have done my research and have some idea of what to do for each of the environments I want to control, but I am looking for recommendations and to be pointed in the right direction so I don't waste the companies money and my time doing things twice.

 

Thank you very much to whoever takes the time to read and extra thanks if you have anything to say about this.

Maybe you shouldn't have got this job if you know nothing about networking...  :P  Also, I would assume that if employees have WiFi that won't do their jobs...

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I don't think that helps me at all, I never say no to anything, I have months to get this done, I want to learn and there isn't many jobs you can take that you put your conditions, you get the time you need and you get paid for learning, also when the owner is your best friend and knows that I am going to learn here, I don't see why I shouldn't have taken the job, aside from that, I have never found more motivation to learn than having the environment to practice (wich I have never had before).

 

I never said I cant do it, or anything at all, I said I need suggestions to save time and money, I wouldn't want to make the company invest in something not needed, or to do an investment on some solution that might not be the most efficient.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read it though.

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Are you allowed to use virtual machines on Server 2008 R2, with regards to licenses? Or do you have a spare physical box (specs don't need to be great) that you could install a linux firewall on? This will take care of the majority of your problems, and is the cheapest (free) and in my opinion fastest and most secure way to deal with some of your issues. 

System/Server Administrator - Networking - Storage - Virtualization - Scripting - Applications

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Are you allowed to use virtual machines on Server 2008 R2, with regards to licenses? Or do you have a spare physical box (specs don't need to be great) that you could install a linux firewall on? This will take care of the majority of your problems, and is the cheapest (free) and in my opinion fastest and most secure way to deal with some of your issues. 

 

Yes I do, the Dell 2850, I was actually thinking of what I could use this on, I will deffinately look into this, any suggestions for the most friendly version of Linux that I should go with ?

 

Thanks a ton man.

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IPCop is a solid firewall with heaps of options. Tough to get started but once you do it's a breeze. Have a look into it and see if it will help your situation. I wouldn't use a Dell Server for it, it almost seems a waste of server hardware when IPCop runs on a super low end machine.

System/Server Administrator - Networking - Storage - Virtualization - Scripting - Applications

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