If you have specific questions, then I might be able to help but what you have described is too general for me to be able to help. There are many issues regarding how to properly setup a network and meet all your needs. There are some network engineering professionals who could help you with planning and implementing your network. However, if you are willing to read and learn and experiment then here are some books and articles which may help you:
Network Analysis, Architecture and Design by James D. McCabe.
The Switch Book by Rich Seifert.
Also here are some links to articles written by Dell engineers:
I guess my first question would be my router issue in setting up my network. Can I use my present router which is a Dlink Dgl-4100 gigabit router? From my DSL Modem which is a Speedstream 5300, I have my patch cable from it to my router WAN. I patch from my router to my 5324 Switch to port 1. Everything from their is default setup on the switch.
My idea of how my network layout would be is nothing to complex to be honest. I want all my PC's to be part of our local domain server which is mostly to do with virus protection, etc. Within the office, all PC's will be on one VLAN for our workgroup, and all other connections to any personal PC's would be on another VLAN. All connections would have full access to internet. I hope that explain it a little better.
If your network is simple and you don't have internal security issues and you could have everything on the same subnet - meaning that you don't mind if they see each others traffic internally, then your setup is truly simple. I would not bother with VLAN at all in that case. If you have only a small network you need not do anything special at all on your switches.
I would connect the broadband connection to a router with a built in firewall, NAT and DHCP support. Connect the PowerConnect switch to that router. Connect all your internal PCs to the PowerConnect switch. Since this looks like a flat network with no loop you should disable STP (spanning tree protocol) to improve performance a little bit. If STP is on, when you first connect a system to the switch it might takes 30 seconds or so to go through the STP protocols which delay your connection to the network. STP prevents problem with the network if you have loops but since your network is flat this should not be an issue.
You can connect your WiFi AP to the PowerConnect switch directly too and just have your laptop connect through the AP to the rest of the network. Give your AP an IP address range within the same range as your internal network. Make sure you either have everything get their IP address via DHCP from the router or hard code the IP address for everything manually. The firewall can be setup to only accept specific MAC in your network and the PowerConnect switch can also lock down the MAC address in the network so no new MAC can connect into the internal network.
The router that's between you and the broadband can provide firewall support and translate your internal IPs to external IPs (using NAT) and hide your network from direct access by the internet. The firewall may also support blocking port scanning from external network.
Now please understand that I'm not an IT professional and do not know enough to advice you on how to fully protect your network from external hacking. I can only say how I setup my home network which is very flat.
As I mentioned before, there are many issues to consider when setting up a business network including security and performance. you could either get in touch with an IT professional who could help you with these issues or if you are willing to learn on your own consider the books I referenced.
That helps me out a lot and I wanted to thank you. I think that once I get the basics down, I can then worry about locking down the security issues later.
I do have a problem with what you explained on the flat setup. About every 30 mins or so, my port that connects my switch and router cycles off and on. Which disconnects all my PC during this time. My son told me this problem because he plays on line games and when he is in a middle of a game, he gets disconnected. I took a look at my log file and notice this issue.
Log Index Log TimeSeverityDescriptiondocument.write(''); tableName++; 1document.write("
Do you have any ideas of what this could be? Now, I notice you said not to use VLan but as default, all my ports are under VLAN 1. Is that correct how I have it set up?
From my modem, I have it bridge mode to my router in port 4 which is my uplink. From my router, I have my DHCP configured to my LAN ip's. My router setup is as follows: IP range from 10.81.73.100 to 254 | Gateway is 10.81.73.10 | 255.255.255.0
My inband interface for my switch is 10.81.73.100 with the GW at 10.81.73.10 which this is set to Vlan 1. That is my settings so far. Do I have to set up my switch to recieve ip address from my DHCP server which is my router, right? Please let me know if I am on the right track and all.... plus my big problem of my switch cycling on and off at port 1.
Opps, sorry about the copy and paste code issue. I tried copying my log file from my openmanage control panel to show you but I guess that html code is a problem. How should I show you my log file? Let me know so I can do so. Thanks.
The PC 5324 is a Layer 2 switch meaning that it does its switching at the MAC address level instead of at the IP address level. So in fact it doesn't care about the IP address you setup in your network.
By default all ports are on VLAN 1. It's ok to just leave everything on default unless you really want to create multiple VLANs to isolate networks or for performance reasons.
When you say your link cycles, can you describe the symptoms better please. Is the link going off then on again? What exactly do you observe when your "link cycles"?
The log you shows only shows what happens when the switch reboots and the ports are enabled. Also shows STP executing. If your network is flat you might want to disable STP to improve performance slightly when a piece of equipment first plug into the network.
BTW, what I mean to say is that your log doesn't help me understand the problem. It shows everything from first boot up. You have to isolate the problem to the point exactly when you see the link cycles then note the time so we can tell what the log message is at the time the problem occurs and observe exactly what happens when the link cycles. Do you see LED light on the port going off/on? What's happening on your router side and on your broadband modem.
The log is not exactly the log file from my boot. If you look at the times, you will see the Port 2 issue. Every 33 mins, the port goes down and up. This was a for sure problem which was noticed overnight. Port 2 went up and down at that 33 min time limit. Could this be a problem with my modem? I am concern about this Speedstream 5200 model modem because it has a built in router to it. Could going from router to router be this issue? I am going to try a couple things today in isolating this issue and get back to you because I think it is coming from the sourse. Thanks
DELL-Cuong N.
1K Posts
0
September 23rd, 2005 14:00
Also here are some links to articles written by Dell engineers:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/products/pedge/topics/en/whitepapers?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz&~tab=3
Cuong.
debbiegrant
6 Posts
0
September 23rd, 2005 21:00
My idea of how my network layout would be is nothing to complex to be honest. I want all my PC's to be part of our local domain server which is mostly to do with virus protection, etc. Within the office, all PC's will be on one VLAN for our workgroup, and all other connections to any personal PC's would be on another VLAN. All connections would have full access to internet. I hope that explain it a little better.
Debbie
DELL-Cuong N.
1K Posts
0
September 26th, 2005 15:00
If your network is simple and you don't have internal security issues and you could have everything on the same subnet - meaning that you don't mind if they see each others traffic internally, then your setup is truly simple. I would not bother with VLAN at all in that case. If you have only a small network you need not do anything special at all on your switches.
I would connect the broadband connection to a router with a built in firewall, NAT and DHCP support. Connect the PowerConnect switch to that router. Connect all your internal PCs to the PowerConnect switch. Since this looks like a flat network with no loop you should disable STP (spanning tree protocol) to improve performance a little bit. If STP is on, when you first connect a system to the switch it might takes 30 seconds or so to go through the STP protocols which delay your connection to the network. STP prevents problem with the network if you have loops but since your network is flat this should not be an issue.
You can connect your WiFi AP to the PowerConnect switch directly too and just have your laptop connect through the AP to the rest of the network. Give your AP an IP address range within the same range as your internal network. Make sure you either have everything get their IP address via DHCP from the router or hard code the IP address for everything manually. The firewall can be setup to only accept specific MAC in your network and the PowerConnect switch can also lock down the MAC address in the network so no new MAC can connect into the internal network.
The router that's between you and the broadband can provide firewall support and translate your internal IPs to external IPs (using NAT) and hide your network from direct access by the internet. The firewall may also support blocking port scanning from external network.
Now please understand that I'm not an IT professional and do not know enough to advice you on how to fully protect your network from external hacking. I can only say how I setup my home network which is very flat.
As I mentioned before, there are many issues to consider when setting up a business network including security and performance. you could either get in touch with an IT professional who could help you with these issues or if you are willing to learn on your own consider the books I referenced.
Cuong.
debbiegrant
6 Posts
0
September 26th, 2005 21:00
That helps me out a lot and I wanted to thank you. I think that once I get the basics down, I can then worry about locking down the security issues later.
I do have a problem with what you explained on the flat setup. About every 30 mins or so, my port that connects my switch and router cycles off and on. Which disconnects all my PC during this time. My son told me this problem because he plays on line games and when he is in a middle of a game, he gets disconnected. I took a look at my log file and notice this issue.
Log Index Log Time Severity DescriptionDo you have any ideas of what this could be? Now, I notice you said not to use VLan but as default, all my ports are under VLAN 1. Is that correct how I have it set up?
From my modem, I have it bridge mode to my router in port 4 which is my uplink. From my router, I have my DHCP configured to my LAN ip's. My router setup is as follows: IP range from 10.81.73.100 to 254 | Gateway is 10.81.73.10 | 255.255.255.0
My inband interface for my switch is 10.81.73.100 with the GW at 10.81.73.10 which this is set to Vlan 1. That is my settings so far. Do I have to set up my switch to recieve ip address from my DHCP server which is my router, right? Please let me know if I am on the right track and all.... plus my big problem of my switch cycling on and off at port 1.
Debbie
debbiegrant
6 Posts
0
September 26th, 2005 21:00
Debbie
debbiegrant
6 Posts
0
September 26th, 2005 22:00
I was able to find the way to copy my log file properly. Here is the info.
Logging is enabled.
Console Logging: Level info. Console Messages: 0 Dropped.
Buffer Logging: Level info. Buffer Messages: 24 Logged, 24 Displayed, 200 Max.
File Logging: Level error. File Messages: 0 Logged, 90 Dropped.
1 messages were not logged
26-Sep-2005 15:41:29 :%LINK-I-Up: g2
26-Sep-2005 15:41:27 :%LINK-W-Down: g2
26-Sep-2005 15:35:52 :%LINK-I-Up: g5
26-Sep-2005 15:35:51 :%LINK-W-Down: g5
26-Sep-2005 15:07:28 :%LINK-I-Up: g2
26-Sep-2005 15:07:26 :%LINK-W-Down: g2
26-Sep-2005 14:33:22 :%LINK-I-Up: g2
26-Sep-2005 14:33:21 :%LINK-W-Down: g2
26-Sep-2005 14:29:33 :%LINK-I-Up: g5
26-Sep-2005 14:29:31 :%LINK-W-Down: g5
26-Sep-2005 14:20:13 :%LINK-I-Up: g5
26-Sep-2005 14:20:11 :%LINK-W-Down: g5
26-Sep-2005 13:59:18 :%LINK-I-Up: g2
26-Sep-2005 13:59:16 :%LINK-W-Down: g2
26-Sep-2005 13:25:49 :%STP-W-PORTSTATUS: g2: STP status Forwarding
26-Sep-2005 13:25:19 :%LINK-I-Up: g2
26-Sep-2005 13:25:17 :%LINK-W-Down: g2
26-Sep-2005 13:16:43 :%STP-W-PORTSTATUS: g14: STP status Forwarding
26-Sep-2005 13:16:13 :%LINK-I-Up: g14
26-Sep-2005 13:16:11 :%LINK-W-Down: g14
DELL-Cuong N.
1K Posts
0
September 27th, 2005 12:00
The PC 5324 is a Layer 2 switch meaning that it does its switching at the MAC address level instead of at the IP address level. So in fact it doesn't care about the IP address you setup in your network.
By default all ports are on VLAN 1. It's ok to just leave everything on default unless you really want to create multiple VLANs to isolate networks or for performance reasons.
When you say your link cycles, can you describe the symptoms better please. Is the link going off then on again? What exactly do you observe when your "link cycles"?
The log you shows only shows what happens when the switch reboots and the ports are enabled. Also shows STP executing. If your network is flat you might want to disable STP to improve performance slightly when a piece of equipment first plug into the network.
Cuong.
DELL-Cuong N.
1K Posts
0
September 27th, 2005 12:00
BTW, what I mean to say is that your log doesn't help me understand the problem. It shows everything from first boot up. You have to isolate the problem to the point exactly when you see the link cycles then note the time so we can tell what the log message is at the time the problem occurs and observe exactly what happens when the link cycles. Do you see LED light on the port going off/on? What's happening on your router side and on your broadband modem.
Cuong.
debbiegrant
6 Posts
0
September 27th, 2005 17:00