Hello,

I'd like to setup a small network using VLAN(s). I would need about 4
VLANs with the following node distribution:

VLAN 1: 5 servers
VLAN 2: 4 servers
VLAN 3: 50 workstations
VLAN 4: 10 workstations

I was thinking about a couple of 2950 48p catalyst switches. Which
router would you suggest for routing between these VLANs ? the router
would also be the gateway towards the firewall and out to the Internet.

One more thing: is there any special requirement to look for in the
switches and router, should we decide in the future to use VoIP with an
IP PBX ?

Thank you!

You could look at 3560 series switches which can do routing, instead of
2950's and a router. Less equipment, but most likely much more expensive.

However, you can buy 3560 in PoE models, which is something you'd generally
be after if you're doing VoIP, but is not necessary because all IP phones
can be used with a power brick. Some come with them (like Polycom
SoundPoint IP phones) and some you pay extra (Like Cisco IP phones, at about
$25 per brick). You need to do a cost analyis and see if the cost of power
bricks (if you have to pay for them) is worth the savings on the switch).
Also, the 3560's and run an enhanced image and provide QoS, which is
something you want for a VoIP setup.

Anyways, for a router to use, it really depends on what you need to do. You
could use something as basic as the 800 series, or move to the 1800 and 2800
series. The 1800 series routers are not designed of voice applications as
they cannot support DSPs. If there was an 800 series that supported DSPs,
it wouldn't be near enough for your application, so you are probably looking
at a 2801 at a minimum.

Your basic requirements for a switch/router when you want to use voice
should be:
-Does the switch support VLAN tagging
-Does the switch support QoS
-Does the switch support Inline Power
-Does the router support QoS
-Does the router support voice (voice software, DSPs, voice modules to hook
in FXO/FXS, PRI, T1/E1, etc)

<gegidio@spamhole.com> wrote in message
news:1126943147.711760.12220@g43g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...

"ESM" <ask@for.it> wrote in message
news:0wTWe.86044$xl6.82259@tornado.tampabay.rr.com ...

48p 2950s go from $2500 to $4500 list.

cheapest 48p 10/100 3560 is $6500 list, but you are getting a more or less
wirespeed router built in.

is you want 10/100/1000 then you can get that as a 3560, but not a 2950
Agreed

but PoE can be cheaper than arranging all the extra power feeds for the
phones, and if you have a UPS in the wiring closet covering the switches and
associated Voip servers then the phones work during a mains outage - some
places that is important.

you can do QoS on 2950s (there are 2 levels of QoS, with the better version
limited to the EI, more expensive flavor of switch, and no upgrade path)
The implied network design from the VLAN structure is that all traffic
between users and servers will cross between VLANs - in turn that means you
need a fast router - and the only cheap fast IP routers are layer 3 switches
like the 3560s....
so the router only needs Ethernet interfaces.

However, the choice really depends on the required performance and you
havent given much info about that.
power over ethernet - anything else you would add as part of the VoIP / IP
telephony deployment.
Regards

stephen_hope@xyzworld.com - replace xyz with ntl

ESM wrote:

Thank you very much for the suggestion. I never used a switch with
routing; how does the configuration differ from the traditional VLAN +
external router ? do you apply an IP and subnet to each VLAN and then
just turn on routing on the switch ? can you apply ACLs on the traffic
as you'd do on a classic router ?

I agree.

I would just need to route traffic between the VLANs. This would be
standard office traffic (meaning some light file management and
intranet stuff on an internal web site) plus telephone calls going
towards the IP-PBX.

Thank again for the advices!

<gegidio@spamhole.com> wrote in message
news:1126972389.817160.289620@g44g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
The switch configures exactly the same way in terms of the VLANs but you
would define an interface IP for each VLAN.
On a switch like this, you can take any interface and turn it into a routed
port with the commands "no switchport", essentially making a 24 or 48 port
router. You enable "ip routing" on the switch itself, and then it can take
a variety of ip commands like a router would.

For example, I do the following in many small offices:

3560 PoE switch (used 3550 PoE's in 1) with ip routing enabled. Every VLAN
has it's own interface IP. All my devices default gateway is the VLAN int
ip on the switch. The switch has a defuult route to the edge device (be it
PIX firewall or small router for T1).

You can do ACL's

Take a look at the new Cisco Catalyst Express 500:

http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/partn...rod_09-19.html
http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2005/hd_091905d.html

Switch specialy designed for the size of network you talk about.
You can take tree or four of them

Regards
Fred


gegidio@spamhole.com wrote: