How To Buy and Setup a Cisco Small Business Router for your Network

A small business needs an Internet router to allow the computers in the business network to have controlled access to the Internet. A router for a small business has to have more features than a home router, but doesn't need to be as complicated (and pricey) as a large scale corporate router.

A small business router needs the basic router features, plus:

• Remote management capability - to allow access to the router from outside the office for administration and troubleshooting purposes.
  
• VPN capability - With VPN capability you can connect branch offices or a home office with the office network and provide direct access from outside your office building.
  
• Be highly configurable - You need to be able to open and close ports, setup port forwarding and manage remote access and firewall settings.
  
• Be simple - while offering sophisticated capabilities the router should be easily managed and not require a degree in computer networking science.

The price range should be between $100-200 US.

This article is going to use the Cisco RVS4000 as a example of an ideal small business router and for the overview of how to setup a router. Cisco is the big dog in Internet infrastructure hardware. They own Linksys, which dominated the home and home office business and now covers small business devices for Cisco.

This setup guide is going to address the basics in general terms with the Cisco (Linksys) router as an example. Other products will vary in menu and screen layout, and terminology may vary, but they all have these basic components to deal with.

The step by step outline is next.This procedure is meant to show concept and not attempt to replace the users manual that comes with the router. Basic knowledge of network architecture and setup is assumed.

This is followed by a slide show of screen shots that show each step visually.

Steps 1-6 are required to have a functional network. The remaining steps are business connectivity issues and can be handled separately.

1. Connect a PC to the router. The PC should be set to acquire an IP address from the router. Enter the router's default IP address into your browser and log in to the control panel screens.
2. The router will likely have Wizards to help with basic setup. We are going to bypass the Wizards for explanation purposes.
3. Change the control panel password for security purposes.
4. Setup the WAN side of the router. You will need the settings from your ISP, usually the static IP assigned to you, a mask, gateway IP, and DNS settings.
5. Setup the LAN side of the router. Enter the internal IP of your network. If different from the default, you will need to restart your PCs network card and connection (a reboot can do this).
6. Setup the DHCP server to allow your router to give out IP addresses unless you have a server setup to hand out IP addresses.
7. Enable remote management and setup port 8080. It's a good idea to enable HTTPS.
8. To allow RDP (Remote Desktop) access, you will need to setup port forwarding to connect port 3389 to a specific server or PC by their fixed internal IP address.
9. Setup VPN tunnels as required.
   

The router also comes in wireless versions which would allow you to access your office network with a wireless laptop.

It is important that you make sure that wireless security is setup properly.

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