I picked up a Linksys WAP200 wireless access point. The price was right and I've positioned it such that it is providing solild coverage to our entire single-story office building. Originally I thought I would be using the new unit as an addition to our existing WAP to create two distinct SSIDs in order to provide access to the LAN by our staff (non-broadcasted SSID and MAC filtering on) and the other for guests to have Internet access only (broadcasted SSID, MAC filtering off), connecting it outside the firewall. However, the WAP200 supports multiple SSIDs as well as VLANs, and since it is providing a great signal, I'd prefer to use it exclusively.
At the moment I've got two seperate SSIDs set up in the WAP200, but I have not done anything with VLAN settings. I understand VLANs conceptually but need some guidance on what else I have to do to make this work.
Other network hardware in the current LAN: I have a layer 2 managed switch (Netgear GSM7224) with VLAN capability (currently not in use). Our server is running Small Business Server/Windows Server 2003 (R1), which provides DNS and DHCP services for the network. I'm using an external PIX 506E for our firewall, so the server and PIX are connected to the switch. Outside the firewall is a Cisco 800 router that the cable company supplied (and otherwise controls remotely) to provide our static IPs, as well as the cable modem, of course. So that's all the hardware currently in use in the existing LAN. As a side note, I also have a new LinkSys BEFSX41 Router/firewall that I keep on the shelf as a temporary backup for the PIX, should that unit go down (intended as a stopgap solution to cover the 4 hour window in which Cisco delivers a new PIX). I'm mentioning it in case it could play into the solution somehow via the installation of custom firmware? Just tossing that out. That's where I'm at. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
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