Seeking advice for a scenario

[bnelson01]

Hi everyone I am currently a student pursuring my CCNA and one of the things we need to do is a case study. What I've got is a building that is going to use 3 subnets out of a given address space of 192.168.100.0/24. Looking for advice on what router (or routers if more than 1 would be better) would work best for this situation.

[Collin Clark]

Use a layer 3 switch, like a 3750.

[bnelson01]

Collin: Thanks for the advice, but I thought that a switch wouldn't allow different subnets to communicate with each other?

[Jon Marshall]

Bryan

Some switches are only L2 capable and cannot router. However there are L3 switches which can route.

3560/3750/4500/6500 are all example of L3 switches. These switches can actually route between vlans/subnets.

Jon

[bnelson01]

Jon:

So I would be able to wire the different subnets into that one switch and then only need one router to add internet access in the future? I did a little research after reading Colin's reply and was wondering if another solution might be to use like a 3825 router with a switch module?

[Leo Laohoo]

So I would be able to wire the different subnets into that one switch and then only need one router to add internet access in the future?

In some cases, with a Layer 3 switch, you don't need a router.

I did a little research after reading Colin's reply and was wondering if another solution might be to use like a 3825 router with a switch module?

Boils down to the price, requirements and port-cost. NME switch modules come in 16, 24 and 36 but I'd rather have a physcial switch rather than an all-in-one chassis. If your router goes, then everyone goes (if you have redundancy).

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Beside the information provided in the other posts, for basic routing, L3 switches and routers often do much the same. However, the former tend to be able to provide much higher level of performance, the latter additional features. Sometimes, especially with the non-chassis platforms, you might need to use both device kinds to obtain both (LAN) performance and (WAN) features.

For example, your 3825 (350 Kpps) could struggle to route 100 Mbps of traffic, where even the smallest (8 port) 3560 (2.7 Mpps) handles much more. Yet, the 3825 supports various interface types, NAT, firewall features, advanced QoS, VPN, etc., while the 3560 doesn't.

[bnelson01]

Looks like a L3 switch it is. Thanks for all the help guys and taking the time to explain all this to a newbie. I definately know where to go now if I need more advice in the future!

[Leo Laohoo]

I definately know where to go now if I need more advice in the future!

The pub???

(Joke only.)