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VLANs and Wireless router

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weslsew

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I currently have an ASUS RT-86U that I love, but I have decided due to growing size and security reasons to setup VLANs on my network. I have purchased a layer 3 switch that I plan to setup to handle the VLANs and inter VLAN routing. I plan to connect the router and continue using it as my router and VPN server. What I can't figure out is how my wireless network comes into play. Is my switch able to configure the wireless clients that connect to the router as another VLAN? If I connect wireless devices to the router, is there any way that they will be able to access devices that are on VLANs? Or, do I have to disable the wireless network on the router and buy access points to connect through the switch? Also, will devices that connect to the router through the VPN be able to access devices on the VLANs? If not, would I be better off purchasing a simple router to put between my switch and the internet, and then using the RT-86u behind the switch as a wireless access point and VPN server? Thanks for the help.
 
Asus' firmware has no support for VLANs (other than for IPTV), wireless or otherwise.
 
You probably can do most of what you want with just the router and a smart switch.

You can set up guest networks on the AC86 on which you can restrict these wireless devices so they can't access your intranet.

Depending on how you set up your VLANs on the switch devices connecting to a VLAN might be able to share the same LAN as WiFi clients connecting your NON GUEST WiFi.

I am able to accomplish this using 802.1Q VLANS with certain LAN ports assigned PVID 1 which is the universal default on my switch.

If you want different SSIDs for each VLAN you will have to hang APs off each VLAN port(s) on your switch.

Just as an FYI for you your AC86, it will have to be in router mode for the VPN server to function. You can double NAT it behind another router and get it to work but it will require some port forwarding.
 
If you are going to use a layer 3 switch then you will need to decide between using your router as an AP or a router. Your router does not support VLANs so using it as an AP will limit you using wireless. You can not use different SSIDs on different VLANs since there is no support in your router for VLANs. You can use it as an AP with 1 flat network.

The router should work fine as a router with the wireless turned off using a layer 3 switch. If you wanted limit guest access you could use the wireless for guest and use other wireless for the layer 3 switch but only if you are trying to use up old equipment.
 
Thanks, this is what I was figuring.

Now for VPN access to the LAN, if I'm using the RT86 as my router and a VPN server, is there any way I can access devices on different VLANs? Or will my VPN server need to be behind the switch and have the router port forward to it?
 
You should be fine as your L3 switch is doing the routing so it knows where everything is. Make sure when you connect your router use an access port and not a trunk port in what ever VLAN. I would start with VLAN1 and then migrate over.

If you use a trunk port then it assumes the router has VLAN support. And the router will be doing the routing not the switch.

I assume your are doing layer 3 access in your VPN. If you don't then all traffic using Cisco will end up in the default VLAN. It is best with these smaller Cisco L3switches to use VLAN1 as the default VLAN.
 
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