Recommendation for Updated Wireless
At Reading Room Bookstore/ Café

Prepared for: Mrs. Karen Dickens, Owner of Reading Room Bookstore/ Café

Prepared by: Wendell Brown, Peter Bacon, and Alex McCurdy Owners of Keep Austin Wireless

April 25, 2014

Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 2 Methods 3  Which 802.11 specification is best for your specific needs? 3  Should we get a router that works at 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or both? 3  What security level is best for your business? 4  What speed router should be considered? 4  What else should our router(s) have for current or future considerations? 4  What would happen if something were to go down? 5  How many UPS-powered outlets do we need? 5  How much power do our devices require? 5  How long do we need to use the battery? 5  How many feet of Ethernet cabling do we need? 5 Results 7 Conclusions 8 Decision Matrix 10 Recommendation 11 Assumptions 13 Installation 15 Equipment Parts List 16 Works Cited 17

List of Illustrations

Figure 1: Picture of Linksys EA6900 (Linksys Employee, 2014) 7 Figure 2: Picture of ASUS RT-AC66U (Endgadget Employee, 2014) 7 Figure 3: Picture of Trendnet TEW-812DRU (Softpedia Employee, 2014) 7 Figure 4: Decision Matrix 8 Figure 5: High Level Parts Diagram 10

Table 1: Detailed parts list (Bacon, 2014) 10

Executive Summary

This report was developed to summarize the newer, better, and more secure wireless network that you need at your bookstore/ café. As you requested I have put together a report for this which covers all the necessary information to move forward with your new system. In my research I have developed a plan to implement your new wireless system. * Separate café, bookstore, and customer connection points with encrypted connections for the bookstore (vlan 77), the café (vlan 99), and the customers. * Leave the cash registers at the café and bookstore hardwired due to security purposes.

After extensive research, I have placed the following criteria on this project. * We should buy an 802.11ac router. * We should buy a router that works on both frequencies and can do so simultaneously. * We should buy a router that uses the WPA2 security standard. * We should buy at least a 1500 Mbps router. * We should buy an IPv6-ready router with at least two wired connections. * Ease-of-use should be a necessity.
After all of the analysis was finished, I came to the final recommendation that your business should purchase an APC SMART-UPS SMT1500 (Uninterruptable Power Supply) and two Linksys (Cisco) EA6900 routers to cover your needs in the Reading Room Bookstore/ café. The two routers should be fed by two ISP connections as to keep both customers and business transactions secure. This would also use the full potential speed that each router is capable of. The total cost including installation and all necessary materials would be $1,588.91. The installation would come with a one year labor warranty as well as any warranties from the manufacturers. Please feel free to contact me with further questions.
Introduction

On April 15, 2014 I was contacted by Mrs. Karen Dickens, owner of Reading Room Bookstore and Café. I’m returning her request for information in updating the wireless network in the bookstore/ café. At the time, we discussed the requirements that she placed on this project. In the following report you will see the findings of research I have developed in an attempt to satisfy these needs.
You have an older internet connection in your business space and would like to update it with a more modern, higher speed one for your customers and staff. From what I understand the space is occupied by the Reading Room Bookstore and a café. The bookstore being 240 ft. wide and 83 ft. It has a back office/ storage area that’s 27 ft. deep. The adjacent café is 88 ft. wide and 65 ft. deep with another 45 ft. for the kitchen/ prep/ storage area. You want wireless connections to be available throughout, but need to be separated into the following functions: * Customers of the bookstore/ café * Bookstore staff (in the stacks as well as the back office area) * Café staff (available throughout all café areas)

I understand that this network, when completed, will need to accommodate newer standards as well as being backward compatible with older, legacy standards. You are requesting secure wireless connections to be made for the bookstore and café staff. You have an existing 10/100/1000 mbps. wired network with room for 8 additional connections to be used for all clients. The wired network is located next to the common wall between the bookstore and café on the bookstore side.
Methods
The information acquired about this technology was limited to a mix of research findings and knowledge in this area.

* Which 802.11 specification is best for your specific needs? The most recent IEEE standard is 802.11n, which is backward compatible with all earlier 802.11 standards. The 802.11ac standard has not yet been approved by the IEEE (approval for products should begin in June 2014), but the standards are already pretty well set. The 802.1ac is also backwards compatible with earlier standards, has greater range and faster speeds and will be the standard going forward. We should buy an 802.11ac router.

* Should we get a router that works at 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or both? Although the 802.11ac standard allows for the use of the router at both frequencies, not all routers do operate on both frequencies. Furthermore, some work on both, but not simultaneously. Also, the 5 GHz frequency is less crowded, but cannot be used by all clients, and it has a lesser range. Since our equipment is newer and can support the 5GHz standard, that is not an issue, and the greatest distance in our business is within the acceptable range for 802.11ac 5 GHz. We should buy a router that works on both frequencies and can do so simultaneously.

* What security level is best for your business? Since DES and DES2 are both easily compromised by brute force attacks, we should avoid those. Ultimately, the decision has to be made on a per-site, per application basis. Since most 802.11ac wireless routers support WPA2, we should buy a router that uses the WPA2 security standard.

* What speed router should be considered? Speed of the network should also be considered as a major player in the configuration. I can imagine in a business such as yours the need to complete transactions, lookup books, and so forth needs to be done in a speedy fashion as to not hold up your customers. For this reason I have chosen speed as one of the considerations as well. Normally, the faster, the better. However, if the router speed is greater than our ISP provided Internet speed, it will not make a difference. Nevertheless, since we will probably need two, separate Internet access accounts (see below), we should opt for the greatest speed possible, especially if the ISP provider will later upgrade his connections. At that point we would already be poised to take advantage of the greater capability. We should buy at least a 1500 Mbps router.

* What else should our router(s) have for current or future considerations? The router should have wired as well as wireless connections. While conversion from IPv4 to IPv6 networking appears to still be some time coming, a router that supports IPv6 will help us keep our network intact when our ISP transitions over to IPv6 as well. We should buy an IPv6-ready router with at least two wired connections.

* What would happen if something were to go down? Ease-of-use should definitely be looked at for this application. If I were installing a wireless network in a larger, enterprise type configuration, I wouldn’t consider ease-of-use as much because there are IT professionals on staff. Since you probably don’t want to have to call a networking professional out every time you need to change something, ease-of-use should be a necessity. * How many UPS-powered outlets do we need? We should have one for our server, two for the routers, and at least one spare. We should have at least four battery-powered outlets with our UPS. * How much power do our devices require? Since the server is a laptop, it will use 15 – 45 watts. Routers take 2 – 20 watts each. Best case scenario is <20 watts; worst case scenario is <100 watts. We should base our search on 100 watts of power.

* How long do we need to use the battery? Should an outage occur, we would need to continue to run the business. Allowing our customers to continue to use the Internet would be a bonus for us. Provided our cash registers and the credit card readers are also on UPS’s. We should plan on up to one hour use of the UPS.

* How many feet of Ethernet cabling do we need? We will need two 20’ Ethernet cables from the routers to the Internet. We will need two 6’ cables from the server to the routers. Therefore we need four (4) cables, two (2) of 20’ each and two (2) of 6’ each.

Results

After significant research I have determined that the need for a business class router isn’t really that great for your business thanks to all the new technology out there today. The security that’s put into these routers is more than enough for your current situation. The ease-of-use was very critical as well as the throughput. All three of these routers had good ease-of-use, which is critical in your type of business. Between the three choices, the throughput was pretty comparable as well. And last, but not least, the prices were in a decent range for a small business. Cost of newer technology can be startling at times. I’m going to do my best to keep the cost to a minimum without a loss of quality in the final product. The prices could have easily gone over $2000 (for a single router) if I had gone for a more complex router that was designed for businesses. The final result was the choice of three well rated routers that will be more than enough for your business and leave some room for growth. I have chosen the Linksys EA6900, the ASUS RT-AC66U, and the Trendnet TEW-812DRU to research further and find out which one is most suited for your business.

Conclusions
This section discusses three options of routers that are the best candidates and all of the criteria that is needed to make the decision.

* Figure 1: Picture of Linksys EA6900 (Linksys Employee, 2014)

Figure 1: Picture of Linksys EA6900 (Linksys Employee, 2014)

Linksys EA6900: This is an 802.11ac router that supports up to 1,900 Mbps transfer rates – 1,300 Mbps on the 5GHz band with 802.11ac-enabled clients, and 600 Mbps to 802.11n-supported clients. It includes a Gigabit Ethernet WAN port for connection to the internet. It employs the current extremely robust generation of Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA2) encryption. It is IPv6 ready. Set-up takes less than five (5) minutes and has 24/7 online support. The MSRP is $199.99. (Samara Lynn, 2014)

* Figure 2: Picture of ASUS RT-AC66U (Endgadget Employee, 2014)
Figure 2: Picture of ASUS RT-AC66U (Endgadget Employee, 2014)
ASUS RT-AC66U: Like the Linksys, this is an 802.11ac router that supports up to 1,300 Mbps on the 5GHz band with 802.11ac-enabled clients, and the slightly slower 450 Mbps to 802.11n-supported clients. It uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Set-up is easy and there is online support available. It is IPv6 ready. The MSRP is $177.89. (Samara Lynn, 2014)

* Figure 3: Picture of Trendnet TEW-812DRU (Softpedia Employee, 2014)

Figure 3: Picture of Trendnet TEW-812DRU (Softpedia Employee, 2014)

Trendnet TEW-812DRU: Like the ASUS, this is an 802.11ac router that supports up to 1,300 Mbps on the 5GHz band with 802.11ac-enabled clients, and 450 Mbps to 802.11n-supported clients. It uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Set-up is easy, but help and support requires you to set up an account and use a toll-free number. It is IPv6 ready. The MSRP is $129.99. (Samara Lynn, 2014)

Conclusions of UPS

* APC Smart-UPS SMT1500. This UPS has eight (8) battery back-up available outlets with surge protection. It has intelligent battery management, periodic self-tests, and a three (3) year warranty. It is capable of supporting a 100 watt load for 180 minutes (three hours), or a 200 watt load for 80 minutes (one hour and twenty minutes). MSRP is $559.99. (On Amazon.com for $444.99.)

* APC Back-UPS Pro 1000. This UPS has eight (8) battery back-up outlets of which four (4) have surge protection. It has intelligent battery management, periodic self-tests, and a three (3) year warranty. It is capable of supporting a 100 watt load for 65 minutes (one hour and five minutes), or a 200 watt load for 25 minutes. MSRP is $179.99. (On Amazon.com for $123.59.)

* APC SMART-UPS RT 1500VA. This UPS has six (6) battery back-up available outlets with surge protection. It has intelligent battery management, periodic self-tests, and a two (2) year warranty. It is capable of supporting a 100 watt load for 180 minutes (three hours), or a 200 watt load for 75 minutes (one hour and fifteen minutes). MSRP is $1,025.00. (On Amazon.com for $900.68.)

Decision Matrix

Score = Weight X Rating

Figure 4: Decision Matrix Source: Designed by Wendell Brown, April 2014

In the decision matrix above you can easily see how each router scored in the research of the criteria that was chosen. I chose these criteria based on the specific needs for your business. This is also the same criteria that the testers at PC Mag use for their top ten lists. * Cost was chosen as a criterion with less weight, because all of the routers that were suitable for your configuration were within $100 of each other. This still should be a factor. The rating was a little lower if the router was more expensive.

* I chose throughput as a criterion because you pay for high speed internet services, so you need higher speed equipment to keep up with it. Throughput was a little higher in weight because it can sometimes mean the difference in a sale at the bookstore. The ratings were an eclipse of the measured throughput from the equipment specifications.

* There is a definite need for “ease of use” in your situation because if something needs to be temporarily reconfigured to keep business going you can have a trained employee easily fix things. I chose this as a weight (3) because this can be crucial to operations. The higher ratings were based on how much easier it seemed to set-up and use.

* And last, but definitely not least, is security. This had the highest weight because of money transactions. The rating placed on each one was based on security standards that they use.

Recommendation
With the things we’ve covered in previous sections of this report, I will now lay out the recommendations based on research.

* Linksys (Cisco) EA6900 router. It is an 802.11ac router with dual band capability and one of the fastest speeds among 802.11ac routers. It supports advanced security standards, has four wired ports as well as wireless capability, is IPv6 capable, has an easy set-up and administrator controls, and is a “Top Router” choice by PC Mag. (Samara Lynn, 2014)

* Very few of the UPS’s available came with more than nine (9) minutes or so back-up power, even at the low projected load. We, however, would like the business to continue to run as well as provide the patrons with an uninterrupted use of Wi-Fi. In order to do this we need a UPS that can support 100 watts for at least one hour. All of the UPS’s that met all of our criteria were made by APC. The best choice is the APC SMART-UPS SMT1500. It is the oldest technology, but most proven. Its load is best, its surge-protected outlets are most numerous, and its warranty is very good.

* Do we need more than one Internet connection? Although a single connection is in place now, there is a potential that Internet use by our patrons will eat up the bandwidth that our staff needs to perform their jobs. We recommend that we add a second Internet connection, and assign one router to each connection. This would ensure that our needed bandwidth is not restricted by patron use.

The original plan was to separate the café, bookstore, and customers into different functions with encrypted connections for the bookstore (vlan 77) and the café (vlan 99). Although the request says an unencrypted connection is OK for the customers, I would recommend a password of the day (or week) to keep the use of your broadband to a minimum. This system would be a “fat” system due to the nature of it. A thin system is more appropriate for networks that have a large number of work stations owned by the company and is easily scalable. Since the company computers are already established and there is no real expansion needs here, I suggest a fat wireless system. I am also suggesting that there be two wireless routers for two purposes. 1) If one goes down you will have the other as an instant backup. 2) If you separate the bookstore/ café from the customers’ wireless connection you will have a more reliable connection. My proposal is to leave the cash registers at the café and bookstore hardwired due to security purposes. Below I have included the total breakdown of what it will cost to complete this project.

Assumptions

This recommendation is based on the following assumptions from the information gathered from the owner and some that I came up with myself. If there is something that I’m assuming and needs to be changed, please let me know. * The network will need to support newer as well as legacy standards for wireless connections (at least for customers). * Secure wireless connections will need to be made for Bookstore (VLAN 77) and Café (VLAN 99) staff. * Anonymous / unencrypted connections are OK for customers. * An existing 10 / 100 / 1000 Mbps wired network is already in place and has sufficient capacity for eight (8) additional wired connections. * The existing wired network is located next to the common wall between the bookstore and the café (on the bookstore side). * The total number of in-store users will be limited to numbers prescribed by the fire code. * The cashiers for both the bookstore and the café will need wired connections for credit / debit purchases. * Customers should not have access to the staff connection / staff and patrons should have separate routers. * The existing wired network is located at the center wall in the bookstore store room. * 802.11n routers would work best for us. * We will need three (3) VLANs: one for bookstore staff, one for café staff, and one for patrons. * Daily network usage: although we believe that the throughput we have should be sufficient a sudden increase in network traffic such as a special event may slow network. * We are also assuming that the café owner wants a high speed connection in the café for the customers. * We have made the assumption that the cafe is located in an area were a high speed internet connection is available for use. If not, we may have to consider the need for a connection through a satellite ISP provider or something of the sort.

Installation

The installation would be fairly simple due to the layout that you have present already. The idea would be to do the installation during non-business hours. This way we could install the UPS without interrupting any business. Once this is completed and tested we can continue with the rest of it during business if needed. This particular UPS has a self-test feature and audible alarms so you can rest assured that things are operating. In order to test the router we will start with the old one by sending a random ping out to see how fast it comes back. Then, once were done installing the new, higher speed router, we’ll do this again to see what speed you’ve gained. Since we will be working with two ISP connections we can connect one while the connection is still coming through the old one. This will allow for very minimal downtime, if any. Then, once that’s complete and tested, the other one can be installed and tested.
After the installation is complete, we will start with the configuration of the software. The plan is to set the bookstore’s SSID to “VLAN 77” and the café to “VLAN 99”. Previously I mentioned setting a password for the customers as well. Now would be the time to set that up if that’s what you inevitably want. After this step is complete, you should be good to go.

Equipment Parts List Type of Equipment Needed | Equipment
Recommended | Price per Unit | Number of Units | Extended Price | Router | Linksys (Cisco) EA 6900 | $199.99 | 2 | $399.98 | UPS | APC SMART-UPS SMT1500
(Avalable at WalMart) | $444.99 | 1 | $444.99 | Ethernet Cables 20' | Belkin 25' Cable (Available at WalMart) | $9.99 | 2 | $19.98 | Ethernet Cables 6' | Belkin 7' Cable (Available at WalMart) | $2.99 | 2 | $5.98 | | | | | | Shelving for Routers | Brackets, Shelves, Screws, Etc.
(Lowe's) | $8.99 | 2 | $17.98 | | | | | | Labor | Installation, testing | | | $700.00 | | | | | | Total Cost | | | | $1,588.91 | All prices based on current models available online at designated stores.
Prices are not guaranteed and are subject to change. |

Table 1: Detailed parts list (Bacon, 2014)
High Level Parts List

Figure 5: High Level Parts Diagram
Source: Designed by Wendell Brown, April 2014

Figure 5: High Level Parts Diagram
Source: Designed by Wendell Brown, April 2014

Works Cited
Bacon, P. (2014, April 25). Equipment Parts List. Austin, Texas, USA.
Endgadget Employee. (2014, April 25). ASUS RT-AC66U. Retrieved from Endgadget: http://www.engadget.com/products/asus/rt-ac66u/
Linksys Employee. (2014, April 25). Linksys Store. Retrieved from Linksys: http://store.linksys.com/Linksys-WRT1900AC-App-Enabled-AC1900-Dual-Band-Wireless-Router_stcVVproductId158014980VVcatId553965VVviewprod.htm?utm_source=ZiffDavisa&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=640x480&utm_campaign=WRT#self
Samara Lynn. (2014, April 25). The 10 Best Wireless Routers. Retrieved from PC Mag: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398080,00.asp
Softpedia Employee. (2014, April 25). TRENDnet Updates Its TEW-812DRU Dual-Band Router. Retrieved from Softpedia: http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/TRENDnet-Updates-Its-TEW-812DRU-Dual-Band-Router-Download-Firmware-2-0-6-0-437781-2.jpg/