Routers for different subnets 2

[Boom1Boom]

Hello,
I have been trying to re-design my network at work. We will soon be running out of IP addresses on our one class c network. Therefore I was going to join two Class C subnets together. However I was also thinking of subneting these two class c networks further, posibly 4 subnets on each so each department is divided up. I understand if I am to do this I will need a router or a server on each subnet so they can all cominicate with one another. The routers seem quite expensive so I was wondering what sought of spec. I would need to use a pc or server with win nt or win2000 as a relay agent. Will I have to get a fully fledged Server for each subnet or will a normal PC be ok? Each subnet will have about 40 clients. Can anyone help as I am a bit out of my depth.

 

[jimbopalmer]

several Nortel Accelar 1xxx models allow 13 to 16 different subnets plus option slots, they tend to be cheap as Nortel is discontinueing them.

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they are nice, they do priority, QOS, you can back up the configuration via TFTP, but they do not do multicasting well. I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[StarTAC]

u don't need several routers for this.. the single router u have will do the job just fine...

u can route several subnets on a single router.. u can place more than one subnet on a single router interface and route them accordingly.... using VLANs to segment your switch by function or department is also a possibility, but not necessary.....

by doing this, each subnet is available on an interface, and all your subnets do is point to the IP address of their corresponding subnet on the router's interface, and that's their gateway.... this is done by assigning secondary IP addresses to the router's interfaces.. u can have several....

for instance, if your first subnet was 192.168.0.64/26, and your second one is 192.168.0.128/26, u would configure your router this way:

ip address 192.168.0.65 255.255.255.192
ip address 192.168.0.129 255.255.255.192 secondary

this means both the 64/26 and 128/26 networks are directly connected and subnetted....

u can then add your other subnets.. say 192.168.1.64/26 and 192.168.1.128/26 like so:

ip address 192.168.1.65 255.255.255.192 secondary
ip address 192.168.1.129 255.255.255.192 secondary

see, u can have several networks on the same interface, on the same router... with no need for any extra hardware...

good luck..

 

[Boom1Boom]

Thank you for your excellent help in this. It is very useful information, and may just save me my job. Thanks