Network setup

I am having really FUN at work. One of the first things they needed me to do at work was to setup their computer network. No problem.

I did some quick research and came up with a super setup. I ordered a Dual WAN router (Draytek VIGOR 2910) and set it up with 4 Linksys GigE switches so that our whole network is on Gigabit Ethernet. For most of you this is a whole lot of gobbledygook, so let me translate. Our company now has two different connections to the Internet. If one of them goes down, we automatically switch over to the other one. The users would not even know that one of the networks is down. Actually, one connection did go down the second day I had this setup going, and we merrily continued accessing the internet through the other link.

The router also supports VPN connections so we are utilizing that feature heavily. VPN allows us to connect to our work network securely from anywhere. This feature comes in handy when you are on the road and need access to internal network resources.

I am using Google Apps for our corporate email. This greatly simplifies email management, and as a bonus, we get shared calendar and document capabilities. It is a very powerful setup, and, best of all, it is free! As a startup, we like free things.

For backup purposes, I setup JungleDisk on each computer, with private and shared folders. So, people's private files are being backed up into their own vaults, and shared stuff is also backed up but available to all users. I am also going to have shared capabilities on the network for bigger files and for use when in office, but I don't intend to backup this setup. Backup aspect is important, but it is also important to know what really needs to be backed up.

For simple file and print sharing within the company, I am installing SMElinux. Setup is quick and easy, and configuration is done through a web browser. KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle.

For our code repository, issue/bug tracking and project wiki we use JIRA by Atlassian. They have a very good solution, and they also provide hosting for your projects if needed. I opted for the hosted version of their software, to reduce the setup and support aspects on our side. We don't have time to be fiddling with this kind of stuff. I like setup and forget type of solutions.

For our phone setup, I intend to go with the powerful and very cost effective solution from Talkswitch. Their PBX supports analog and VOIP lines, and offers many capabilities, like voicemail to email, auto-attendant, IP phones, remote extensions, VOIP trunks, etc. It is super!

Feel free to share any alternatives to this type of setup. I am in the process of implementation, so I can still change if I see a better solution.