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joemaloy
join:2004-12-21
Tonopah, AZ
 ·StarBand Communica..
| Network effiecentcy
Any thoughts and ideas on how everyone is building their networks out, static IPs, routing everything, etc..etc...
I have just been using static IPs then just filling in the gateway....should I do more.....does anyone do more...Mines just a simple network. | |
superdog
I Need A Drink
Premium,MVM
join:2001-07-13
Lebanon, PA
| If You are setting up one network that is entirely bridged?, it will work OK for awhile. Once it get fairly large though, You are going to have to take steps to make it function properly, because if You do not?, You will have a meltdown if it is hit with a broadcast storm or even one corrupt ARP table in a switch or back haul radio. What we do is used managed switches at every PoP and at the NOC. This allows You to separate each AP, back haul etc. in it's own VLAN. This stops all of the broadcast traffic from propagating across Your entire network, and it eliminates MOST of Your worries in a bridged setup. 
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superdog
I Need A Drink
Premium,MVM
join:2001-07-13
Lebanon, PA
| OK, I was asked to elaborate on my first post, so here goes:
If You use managed switches with VLAN's at every location You would normally use an un-managed switch, You will save Yourself and Your network a lot of extra traffic, mainly broadcast traffic like ARP requests, pings etc. When You are running a bridged network without VLANs, every single DHCP request and any other "Hello, I am here" shout from any device gets propagated across Your entire network, and that is not a needed function, as those shouts really only have to go to one place in most cases?, and that place is the core router or DHCP server etc. at the head end of Your network. Every time these shouts or packets get distributed, it is traffic that Your network has to handle, and the more packets it has to handle, the slower it becomes. By running VLANs on Your switches, it stops this process. Since the switch knows the difference between what needs to be sent out VS what needs to stay local, it cuts down on the traffic Your network needs to move. In a very large bridged network, these shouts or requests could add up to a fairly decent amount of traffic, hence the need to run managed switches with VLANs to cut it back. Another way of looking at it is that You are setting up a router for every port on Your switch.
As far as managed switches go?, You can purchase them on ebay fairly cheap. I just bought an older Baystack 350T managed switch (16 port) for $20.00!!!!. At that price, I can afford to run managed switches at every location on my network AND keep a spare or two laying around in case one of these older bargain units dies on me. The Baystack I just bought needed a good cleaning, and I had to replace 3 little 12V fans. The fans worked but they were noisy so I just took the precautionary measure of replacing them BEFORE they quit so my fancy switch didn't burn up.  
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cmaenginsb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-19
Palmdale, CA
| reply to joemaloy
Tim is right on in explaining the importantance of network segmentation. Reducing or eliminating the broadcast traffic allows your network to do much more.
Instead of VLANs we accomplish this via routing. Ie every hilltop is seperated from the backbone via a router. In addition by using some of the 3rd routing software out there we can also throttle at this point rather than the head end.
I still like a bridged backbone however because it is easier than a dynamic routing protocol when you have to deal with failover (if you do). STP seems to react better than OSPF or BGP (wouldn't use RIP) to bad links.
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