I am setting up a small office network that is composed of the following:

Hardware:

- 1 Windows 2003 Enterprise server (R2)

- 3 to 5 Windows XP and Vista computers

Software / Services:

- An FTP site will be necessary for uploading files

- We will receive 5 static IPs from Verizon (DSL). One will be exclusively assigned to the FTP server.

- VPN using 2003 server

I have a basic idea of what needs to be done, but I am not too sure if this is the best way to do this.

I am planning on getting a firewall to go between the DSL modem and a router. However, I am not sure what kind of router/switch to use because I am not sure how to handle splitting the static IP addresses. The FTP server will need to reside on the 2003 server (either via IIS or Linux running in virtualization).

I also need to configure incoming VPN using Windows 2003 Server.

I would like to know what the Best Practices for this situation would be. I'm having a a hard time finding this info on the web.

Thank you!

Your application is a bit more heavyweight that most.

First, you should use a router to interface with with the ISP. You cannot use the household grade ones. With 5 static IP addresses and an FTP server, etc you need something more robust. Check out www.adtran.com for Adtran units. Feel free to contact their prepurchase support and they will help a lot.