I will be the first to admit that I have NO experience implementing routers other than the one at home. However, I have been thrown into a situation that I must step up and learn. With that said I am in need of some advise and direction.

We have a small network of 40 PC's (10 of those are internet only and do not access the server except for getting an IP and using DNS) and 1 server (file sharing, AD, DHCP and DNS) that are on 3 10/100 switches. Internet access is supplied by a T-1 going into a AdTran TotalAccess 600R. I have been told that all ports are OPEN and that we cannot have access to the router part of it to close ports, etc, etc and that we will need a router if that is what we want.

The way that the switches are setup now is disy chained from one switch to the other and that cannot be good... I would think I would need something that has at least 4 10/100 LAN ports (one for each switch and 1 for future use) and 1 WAN port (going to the 600r). I would also like to be able to see reports of which IP is using what bandwidth and see how much bandwidth is going in/out to the internet.

There is nothing in the next forseeable future for VOIP, so that feature is not needed. The only thing that I do see hapening in the next 6 months is the switch from the T-1 to 10mb cable or ethernet internet from a local provider.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me or maybe some other tips?

Tim