Need recommendation for dual WAN Gigabit router

[dop]

Hi there!

I need your help for choosing the right router for my office.

- 50 concurrent users
- 2 WAN combined approx. 50 Mbit/sec
- Load balancing for internet access, limit speed for a group of devices
- Gigabit lan
- No VPN used

I searched the internet and found some interesting routers such as Cisco RV042G/RV320, Linksys LRT224, TP-Link ER5120. But I don't know which one suits my needs most.

Thank you in advance

 

[System Error Message]

Stay away from the cisco RV as it is not a stable router. Make sure the router you use isnt a VPN router or marketed as something for VPN.

Aside from consumer take a look at other routers such as ubiquiti edgerouter, mikrotik routerboards (even MIPS based ones will be fine for you), pfsense or even UTMs. I would recommend a UTM mainly for the networked firewall and antivirus as it is what i think every network of multiple non techies should have. They all have gigabit LAN except for some models and pfsense and a lot of UTMs are OSes that run on standard x86 hardware. I strongly suggest a UTM.

Edit: The reason why to go with ubiquiti, mikrotik, pfsense or a UTM is because they are more flexible than the consumer brands, they have less bugs and they work more reliably. The only exception to this is the ubiquiti ERL. Pfsense and UTM you can determine things by the hardware you choose. You want to do load balancing and these brands offer that in any sort of way you want. To a mikrotik rouberoard or ubiquiti edgerouter any port can be a LAN or WAN port or both at the same time. On an x86 PC you can choose your NICs and have as many ports as you like and features as you like.

 

[dop]

Thank you very much. Mikrotik is very interesting choice for me now.

 

[Trip]

Hi dop.

First place to look would be the mass-market stuff masquerading as "SMB" gear: Cisco RV, Linksys/Belkin LRT, DrayTek, certain Asus consumer models, etc. Some of those can actually do a pretty good job; the challenge is that their success usually varies from use-case to use-case (ie. trial and error) and support quality tends to be all over the place.

If you or your staff have the skill, the next level up would be Mikrotik, Ubiquiti or a x86 running something like pFsense. If you want something with direct support, look at Peplink -- the Balance 20 will handily support 50Mb/s. On specs alone, Peplink is pricey, but if support is part of the buying criteria, then the difference is more than made-up for, IMHO.

For a bit more built-in security (UTM), some good choices would be Zyxel USG or Sophos/Cyberroam. Those usually start around $300 and support/security licenses are around $100/year.

 

[ezomac]

Also check out Peplink. I have had good results with their setups for VPN and load balancing. What you are looking for is kind of their specialty.

 

[coxhaus]

I think for UTM firewalls Untangle was missed. It is probably the simplest software UTM to manage. They have a paid version and a free version. The free version does not have as good of virus scanning so keep up your workstation antivirus up to date. It requires a PC with 2 Intel NICs. The NICs have a big impact on performance so go Intel.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

For almost two decades...we've done hundreds of the Cisco (linksys small biz line) RV series....and had good luck with them, good bang for the buck. Since they started sunsetting...we've used the replacement...the LRT models....probably near or over a hundred of 'em out there and they work well also.

Since we're doing high amounts of Ubiquiti wireless setups.....we've started using their Edge Routers also...and love 'em.

Couple of Peplinks too...great products, primary purpose being multi-WAN.

Tons of our clients on paid versions of Untangle also..and it's very good, our primary product we recommend for SMBs We install Untangle on hardware appliances from NexGenAppliances....ust ordered another couple from them this morning..an NG-100 and an NG-500 for a couple of new network setups.

 

[Trip]

Interesting stuff from NGA, stonecat. Looks like they use Lanner boxes and add value by burning them in and offering support. Nice.

On the UBNT front, I've recently deployed several ER-X's for SOHO/SMB type stuff. A sweet $50 "swiss-army knife" for sure.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Interesting stuff from NGA, stonecat. Looks like they use Lanner boxes and add value by burning them in and offering support. Nice.

Yeah Lanner custom makes the boxes for them, some special options put in there (BIOS, alternate boot CF Card, LED Readout, tweaked NICs), optimized for Untangle (thus Debian).

 

[System Error Message]

Just to let you guys know, just got the Edgerouter PRO, really hate the firmware. The interface even though it looks user friendly is actually made to hide the lack of features that ubiquiti has. Looking at the dashboard it has less statistics than mikrotik, only mikrotik doesnt show theirs on the front page, they use either a long term graphing page or you have to manually select the interface. Unless you plan to install linux packages or programs there is no point going for ubiquiti edgerouters. Even mikrotik is faster in performance if you're using software routing/NAT.

I managed to get part of the configurations i need working but not without complicated workarounds. On routerOS i could use my router in a very complicated network which is almost impossible to do with ubiquiti.

 

[faur]

....so better a CCR1009 than ER Pro... this is the answer i looking for...only hope that CCR1009 will be able to handle 1Gbs PPPoE Wan - NAT


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Mikrotik(for routing) + AC87U(for 5Ghz) + AC68U(for 2.4Ghz) + Cisco switch(for NAS link aggregation)

 

[System Error Message]

....so better a CCR1009 than ER Pro... this is the answer i looking for...only hope that CCR1009 will be able to handle 1Gbs PPPoE Wan - NAT


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Mikrotik(for routing) + AC87U(for 5Ghz) + AC68U(for 2.4Ghz) + Cisco switch(for NAS link aggregation)

It will be able to handle much faster than that. If you have a 1Gb/s symmetric internet than you would need 2Gb/s of forwarding capacity to max it out as data travels both ways.

 

[faur]

indeed, you're right... i have 2 fibre - 1 Gbs up and one for 1Gbs down...i'll see how to squeeze max throughput using the CCR1009... need more documentation on routerOS, but i hope to archive some results...
Anyway, at least I made my mind...it will be mikrotik, not ER Pro and probably i will have it soon as the local reseller have it on stock...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Mikrotik(for routing) + AC87U(for 5Ghz) + AC68U(for 2.4Ghz) + Cisco switch(for NAS link aggregation)

 

[System Error Message]

indeed, you're right... i have 2 fibre - 1 Gbs up and one for 1Gbs down...i'll see how to squeeze max throughput using the CCR1009... need more documentation on routerOS, but i hope to archive some results...
Anyway, at least I made my mind...it will be mikrotik, not ER Pro and probably i will have it soon as the local reseller have it on stock...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Mikrotik(for routing) + AC87U(for 5Ghz) + AC68U(for 2.4Ghz) + Cisco switch(for NAS link aggregation)

What i learnt is that mikrotik shows you the full overview of whats possible whereas ubiquiti hides their lack of features in their GUI style. They have a tab that shows all they're capable off but even so it may not be fast enough for you.

Another user has tried the CCR1009 and maxed out 1 core using 500Mb/s of PPPOE+NAT in 2 directions. It'll definitely max out your connection without using half the CPU power.

Edit very important thing i recently found out is that routerOS is very buggy with file transfers. So if you ever update the firmware, make sure that the entire file complete transfers.

 

[faur]

Point noted! 10x!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Mikrotik(for routing) + AC87U(for 5Ghz) + AC68U(for 2.4Ghz) + Cisco switch(for NAS link aggregation)