Medium sized network advice!!!! 1

[peggers]

Wondering if somebody could give me some subnetting, VLAN , switch advice. I have recently started at a new company that has a rather flat network configuration. Please parden my ignorance regarding layer 2/3 switches and the like as my main area is programming and server OS.
Basically their network has approx 200 devices (194 * Windows 2000 pro, 6 * windows 2000 server). They are all configured with 10.x.x.x addresses with a 24 bit subnet mask. So servers and pcs all on one subnet!, sounds scary but at least they are all plugged into one of 6 unmanaged 3com swithces, but in no particular order.

Are these types of swiches (e.g. 3c16471 superstack3) intelligent enough to switch traffic from a port on one switch to a port on another?

I have certainly noticed some latency and was thinking of putting all servers on one switch and creating seperate subnets for at least the pcs and servers, would this be better?

Am I right in thinking that if I'm going to subnet, I'll need a managed layer 3 switch with VLANS so that I can route traffic etc and create IP/broadcast domains?

I know this is a big question so if anybody has any good links that would be good too.

 

[KiscoKid]

I'd had no previous experience of the switch you're using but I did find a link to it at

http://www.3com.com

(link below) and I believe it's a dumb 10/100mb layer 2 switch and it doesn't have any any VLAN capabilities. It's designed to be plug and play with no configuration required on your part.

http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detail.jsp?tab=reqoptprod&sku=3C16471-US&pathtype=purchase

I like the idea of segregating the servers as you've suggested. I would try to aim and place them centrally within your infrastructure. If you can, try and create a hierarchial structure whereby the servers reside off a switch that sits central to all the other switches. This way there is a consistent network diameter between all clients and the services they want to access - this is good practice and will aid problem isolation/troubleshooting/simplicity.

Unfortunately I believe you'll need different switches if you want to setup VLANs and you're also right in your assessment that a Layer 3 device (be it a switch or a router) is required to then route between all these VLANs and to create additional broadcast domains.

I couldn't find any generic inter-vlan routing documents except on from cisco.com. Albeit it relates only to Cisco products, the principle is exactly the same regarding of the switch manufacturer - hopefully this will help you:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk389/tk390/technologies_configuration_example09186a00800949fd.shtml

 

[peggers]

Excellent response, would you still recommend VLANS in this SMB or would seperate switches in a hierachy be enough, or both?