Potentially stupid mini server question

[rickeames]

I'm setting up a small business with a network and this server. The server is going to have its own IP so we can access it from outside. But I want it available inside as well so we can have shared drives on the intranet as well.

In the old days, I had a cobalt qube which had two network ports for this purpose and handled the mess, but in this case, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to handle the topology. Do I do:

INTERNET -> SWITCH -> (MINI and AIRPORT connected to switch)

I'm assuming in this case when we go to the IP address of the MINI the switch will just keep the traffic internal?

Sorry if this is really silly.

 

[CoolmaxMini]

I'm setting up a small business with a network and this server. The server is going to have its own IP so we can access it from outside. But I want it available inside as well so we can have shared drives on the intranet as well.

In the old days, I had a cobalt qube which had two network ports for this purpose and handled the mess, but in this case, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to handle the topology. Do I do:

INTERNET -> SWITCH -> (MINI and AIRPORT connected to switch)

I'm assuming in this case when we go to the IP address of the MINI the switch will just keep the traffic internal?

Sorry if this is really silly.

Not silly at all. To have a second ethernet port, you need to buy a USB to Ethernet port adapter sold by Apple. Once that done, then you can do the same as the Cobalt qube. Many people do this with their Mini server; one network port for internet and one for intranet.

 

[paulrbeers]

To further what Coolmax just stated, if you do go with the USB Ethernet "dongle", I would recommend using that as your connection to the internet since I am sure your internet speeds are slower than 100mbps which would leave the gigabit port for your internal network.

 

[talmy]

You don't really need to route all traffic through the server. I assume you already have a router (you've labeled it a "switch" but expect it's really a router). Just connect all computers (including the server) on your LAN and rely on the router's NAT for access to the outside. The router is assigned your Internet static IP on the "outside". Set up port forwarding on the router to forward services you want to handle on your server to your server (which has a static IP on your LAN). Assuming you are wired for Gigabit Ethernet, your external traffic will have negligible impact on your LAN.

I did the two NIC approach for years (having the server do the NAT and firewall) in the 90's and early 00's but it's much easier to just use a separate router. Your Airport (Extreme?) can handle that.