Redesign this network

[neovan]

Can someone help me redesign this network?

The router I don't have access to is a Cisco router (don't know the model).
The switches are HP 4204vl.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29682512@N05/9187537382/

 

[ch33zw1z]

No one here is going to help you do your homework. That being said, redesign it to what end? What are you trying to accomplish.

 

[neovan]

This isn't homework.

Just trying to help a buddy run his network more efficiently by trying to get rid of the Netware as a router set up.

 

[ch33zw1z]

You can only do that if you have something to replace the services the Netware is running. DHCP, and subnet communications. You will need access to that other router at some point.

 

[neovan]

If need be, purchases of switches/routers can be made.

Can I add another Cisco router in front of that router? I'm basically given an IP and a do whatever works for your environment approach.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Sure, you can add another router in between. That's basically what you have anyways, just running on Netware

 

[neovan]

I know the HP switches can do some basic routing, do you think I can offload all the routing to the switches?

 

[ch33zw1z]

What type of basic routing do you think they can do? L2 switching and L3 routing are not the same thing.

My first thought is no, but maybe someone here with more real world experience can weigh in.

edit: looking online for some kind of specs, can't tell if those switches will do layer 3 switching....

 

[skyking]

without access to the upstream router, I'd bet you can break that network quite easily.

 

[neovan]

From their quickspec sheet:

Layer 3 routing
Basic IP routing: enables automatic routing to the connected VLANs and up to 16 static routes-including one default route-in IP networks

Layer 2 switching
VLAN support and tagging: support complete IEEE 802.1Q (4,096 VLAN IDs) and 256 VLANs simultaneously
GARP VLAN Registration Protocol: allows automatic learning and dynamic assignment of VLANs

 

[ch33zw1z]

From their quickspec sheet:

Layer 3 routing
Basic IP routing: enables automatic routing to the connected VLANs and up to 16 static routes-including one default route-in IP networks

Layer 2 switching
VLAN support and tagging: support complete IEEE 802.1Q (4,096 VLAN IDs) and 256 VLANs simultaneously
GARP VLAN Registration Protocol: allows automatic learning and dynamic assignment of VLANs

So you can potentially setup VLANs and send traffic between them. Now for your DHCP issue.

That isolated router is going to be your trouble spot.

 

[neovan]

I can set up ip routes on the HP switches

Here is the show ru:

time daylight-time-rule Continental-US-and-Canada
module 3 type J8768A
module 1 type J8768A
module 4 type J8768A
module 2 type J9033A
trunk D24 Trk1 Trunk
ip routing
vlan 1
name "DEFAULT_VLAN"
untagged A1-A24,B1-B24,C1-C24,D1-D17,D19-D23,Trk1
ip address 10.2.38.10 255.255.255.192
no untagged D18
exit
vlan 870
name "VLAN870"
untagged D18
tagged Trk1
exit
ip route 10.2.38.64 255.255.255.192 10.2.38.1
ip route 10.2.38.128 255.255.255.192 10.2.38.1
spanning-tree Trk1 priority 4

 

[Comblues]

Ok.

Looks like the only tagged vlan is 870 on this switch.

No worries

I have to ask:

Why so many vlans?

How many hosts?

What are the IP ranges, gateway, mask, etc.?

Where is an ipconfig/all from each VLAN?

We need this to mimic the functions of the Netware Server.

Does that server do more than DHCP, like maybe DNS or NTP, etc.?

Looks like a layer 3 switch will fix the problems at hand. I have not looked at the capabilities of your HP switches but I'd suppose they are not just simple Layer 2 switches
Given the additional ip route statements. Check their capabilities and implement them.

If you can get access to the router, if it is yours domain to do so, then you can perform routing on a stick at some performance hit.

Just thinking out loud...

Comblues

FYI - My apprentice went on her first assignment and was paid $1418.00 for her first day's work.

She also successfully cabled her first CCIE Lab night before last. I took pictures at each juncture to help motivate her and demonstrate her progress.

 

[ScottMac]

A single Cisco router can do everything you show in the picture. IF there are still devices speaking IPX/SPX, then the Cisco router needs an IOS that supports IPX.

The router can easily handle the DHCP services.

You can either implement multiple physical interfaces, or you can use a single interface connected to a trunk port from the switch using sub-interfaces (fa0/1.1, fa0/1.2 ...), or you can mix & match i.e., individual interfaces for the heavier traffic or single-connected resources and sub-interfaces for the lesser traffic branches.

That part of the design you have to do yourself; traffic should be studied and the router must be "sized" to accommodate the required throughput and redundancy needs.

 

[neovan]

Comblues:
There's actually only 2 VLANs on the Switch #1 and using default vlans for Switch #2,#3.
IP ranges are 10.2.38.0/26, 10.2.38.64/26, 10.2.38.128/26, the gateways are the IPs of the 3 NICs on the Netware server 10.2.38.1, 10.2.38.67, 10.2.38.131 respectively.

ScottMac:
Any recommendations on a Cisco router model? How would the configuration on the router look?

I would like to get rid of the Netware server completely.

 

[lif_andi]

If your switches support it, the simplest setup would be to remove the netware, trunk between the switches and to the router, create subinterfaces on the Cisco router to deal with intervlan routing and set them as default gateway for each vlan. Just remember to enable those services on the Cisco router that you disabled on the netware.

Also, depending on how many nodes there are in your network and how many ports your switches have, you might not even need all three switches.

 

[neovan]

We have a little over 200 nodes.

Any ideas on how the configuration of the router would look like?