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NTnewbie
40 pts.
Q:
What type of swtich should I use?
L3, Switch, DHCP, Switching equipment, LAN switches
Hi Folks,

I am not a Networking expert and I have been assigned to setup a system at work for other purposes which will require networking components.
I have a 3 Hosts and each host will be connected to 7 target clients.
These clients will always be changing hence I can't use their MAC addresses. After quite a bit of research, I have determined that I need a 24-port 100MBit managed Layer3 switch but the details and the setup is what I am concerned with. Let me give a bit of detail for my application, all 3 Hosts will be running the same program and will talk to the target client via this IP formula= 192.168.HOST#.Target#.
Essentially, If I connect all 3 hosts on ports 22,23 & 24, then the targets & the port/IP assigments should be as follows:

Host1(IP:192.168.1.0)->Targets1-7->Ports1-7(IP:192.168.1.1-7)
Host2(IP:192.168.2.0)->Targets8-14->Ports8-14(IP:192.168.2.1-7)
Host3(IP:192.168.3.0)->Targets15-21->Ports15-21(IP:192.168.3.1-7).

I obviously need a DHCP server capabilities and I am not sure if switches come with a built-in DHCP server. I think I need to set this up using VLANs, Trunking & limiting the IP-assignment.

Any help would be very much appreciated & thanks in adanced.
Also, any model/brand recommendations would be helpful as well.

NTnewbie
ASKED: Oct 27 2009  3:06 PM GMT
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You would need either a DHCP server, or to setup static IPs on the machine. Static IPs would probably be better so that you know which client which server will be talking to. You will need to use a different IP for the servers as the .0 IP address can't be assigned to a computer. You can use .20 or something. You don't need a layer 3 swhich, you need a layer 2 switch as you don't need to do any routing.

You could setup VLANs if you wanted to, but that isn't needed. Just plug in all the machines, assign the IP addresses and fire up the software.

Network switches don't come with DHCP servers, so if you decided to go the DHCP route you would need a machine to provide DHCP, or have one of the servers handle it. In this case I would go with static IPs.
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You can look at this: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/thread/2253
But, to have smaller pools of IPs for each set of ports, you need some VLAN capabilities, and then you would need to enable routing between them.

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I am still not clear on that. From what I can understand, I think I would need to create a VLAN for each Target Client. However, how where would the DHCP assignments have to bet setup?
Last Answered: Oct 28 2009  5:35 PM GMT by NTnewbie   40 pts.
Latest Contributors: Nnf97   3740 pts., Mrdenny   49385 pts.
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NTnewbie   40 pts.  |   Oct 27 2009  6:49PM GMT

Hi Mrdenny,

Thanks for the prompt response. I am not sure I understand your response.
I definitely need a DHCP server as I am unable to set static IPs on each target clients!!
The IP assignment of the Host is not that important, my main concern is the IPs of the target clients. Does this mean I need a DHCP server + Layer 2 switch only? How do configure the IP assigments based on the ports with a Layer2 & DHCP? Any further clarification would help.

Once again, thanks in advance.

 

Yasirirfan   4315 pts.  |   Oct 29 2009  7:14AM GMT

Once you are thinking of VLANs its always good to go with a layer 3 switch, a Cisco 3750 Switch is good your requirements. You can create VLANs and configure the ports for required vlans. IF you are using DHCP server then make sure you have configured the Switch a command “ip helper-address” command a smaple configuration is here

interface Vlan101
description Nursing
ip address 10.2.0.3 255.255.254.0
ip helper-address 10.0.1.100
ip helper-address 10.0.1.101

from the above example the “ip helper-address” command is directed towards my DHCP servers.

 

CRagsdale32   640 pts.  |   Oct 29 2009  4:55PM GMT

A simple solution might also be to purchase a router that is modularly configurable, something like a cisco 1811. This has DHCP capabilities built in, and if you want to use VLANs you can still set those up as well. Just get a module for additional ports…
[CODE <a href="http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/routers/ps5853/ps6184/product_data_sheet0900aecd8028a95f_ps5853_Products_Data_Sheet.html" title="http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/routers/ps5853/ps6184/product_data_sheet0900aecd8028a95f_ps5853_Products_Data_Sheet.html" target="_blank">http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collater...</a>

is a good reference for information on tha 1811 model. The 1811 comes with 8 switched ports installed, but there is room for additional expansion.

 

R0berth1   175 pts.  |   Oct 29 2009  5:27PM GMT

If you ever plan on using netflow for any reason, it will not be available on the Cisco 3750. Also you can put DHCP on the switch instead of using a DHCP server on a windows PC if you need to.

 

NTnewbie   40 pts.  |   Oct 29 2009  5:32PM GMT

What do you mean by putting a DHCP on the switch? Do you mean a switch with a built-in DHCP server?

 

Cyberhh   40 pts.  |   Dec 29 2009  5:07PM GMT

No need to make this difficult, you do not need special routing if you do not want it.

Setup your switch with 3 VLANs.:

VLAN1: Port 1-8
Port1: Server 1
Port 2-8: 7 clients for that server

VLAN2: Port 9-16
Port9: Server 2
Port 10-16: clients for that server

VLAN3: Port 17-24
Port 17: Server 3
Port 18-24: Clients for that server

Run DHCP on each server to serve IPs in the range needed for communication with that server and DNS with appropriate host entries for that server.

No routing anywhere but to the server that you require access to.

If you use an HP Procurve switch you can set it all up via the switch’s web interface and as long as the VLAN’s are setup on the switch port there is no configuration you need to do on the clients (just use one VLAN per port and you will be okay.)

If you need routing then it will get more complicated, but only a little.