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  Asked: Jul 21 2008   7:34 PM GMT
  Asked by: Schmidtw

Network Topology Help


Wireless networks, WAP, Network security, Networking, wiring, Network topology, STP, Topology, Network design, Star topology, Switches

Currently, I am in the process of reqiring our entire network. Previously, this organization has had the 7th floor switches pour into the 6th, the 6th into thr 5th, and so on and so forth until they got to the main backbone and into the server room. I am converting this into a star topology, giving each floor, each switch, a GB link to the core. Although this is not what I am asking about directly, I do have a related question:

We currently have both hardwire and wireless network. I am thinking I may want to install another set of switches in closet. These new switches will be reserved for access points alone. Each switch will then go directly to directly to a firewall located just outside of our core, and will then go into the core. One of the main reaosns I want to do this is because of several wireless network cameras we have. One of them, in particular, is in an elevator, and althoug performance is decent mostly, at times the quality and frame rate drops as it searches for new access points. I believe that getting these switches just for the WAP will allow me to change the STP on each switch and improve wireless performance without disrupting the hardwired network.

Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas?

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Last Answered: Jul 22 2008  4:35 PM GMT  by Mjb247




If you are using a Layer 2 switch you can assign a new VLAN to the wireless access points and dedicate the ports for the specific access point WLAN MAC address for security.

When you assign the Access Points to the SAME VLAN you can reduce broadcasts and increase bandwidth along with adding some filter security as well (Depending on the switch capabilities).

I recommend purchasing good Cisco switches, create specific VLAN for WLAN and add filtering for security. Extra hardware will accomplish the same thing but is will cost more and not be as versatile.

Each Access Point will need a non-overlap channel, Same SSID and same VLAN. You may want to look at Cisco SWAN as well.

Hope this is helpful.
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Schmidtw  |   Jul 23 2008  12:59PM GMT

I like the VLAN idea (especially since it means less wiring for me). Since I did not implement the system we currently have, I am not sure whether these switches are Layer 2. I am also not that familiar with VLAN. I’ll have to read up on this.

 

Jaideepkhanduja  |   Jul 24 2008  5:00AM GMT

I think you have besides this synchronization of all switches is also very important, just take care that your backbone is faster than the out of core switches, and to have a high frame relay at all times the new switches that you want to use exclusively for Wireless access should also be high end.

 

Labnuke99  |   Jul 24 2008  2:55PM GMT

VLAN’s are at their simplest just a separate subnet. Say if you use 192.168.x.x/16 as your subnet mask, you would move to something like 192.168.x.x/24 as the new subnet mask. Routing becomes very important when VLANs are implemented.

Access points are still a shared medium (radio spectrum). So, unless you implement something like a Xirrus AP, then the clients are contending for the 100Mbps or 1000Gbps uplink between the AP and the switch.

In the US, you should use channels 1,6 & 11 to prevent channel overlaps.

 

Schmidtw  |   Jul 28 2008  1:52PM GMT

I am skeptical about doing a VLAN, and I would also prefer to skip buying a new set of switches for the APs and running a ton of new wire. Are there any scripts I can write to modify the behavior of a single port or a few ports on each switch to change or disable the STP function?

 

Labnuke99  |   Jul 29 2008  2:14PM GMT

What leads you to believe that STP will create problems? It is there to prevent network looping problems. Network loops can take the entire network down.

 

Snapper70  |   Jul 30 2008  2:38PM GMT

You can run PVST (per-vlan-spanning-tree) if you want (and specify where you don’t want to run spanning tree); but are you sure you won’t come across looping on any trunk ports either?

 

Schmidtw  |   Aug 5 2008  4:04PM GMT

I’m not familiar with the port interactions if I am to disable STP on a single port.

Truthfully, I am not really aware of all of the functions of STP, but I heard it can disrupt wireless signals for devices such as cameras, that is why I am investigating it.

 

Labnuke99  |   Aug 6 2008  5:11PM GMT

Check out this wikipedia article on spanning tree protocol.

 

Schmidtw  |   Aug 15 2008  5:47PM GMT

Thanks for the article. I’ll read up on this.