Maximum number of hosts that belongs to a VLAN

[mmadruga]

Does anyone know if there is a Cisco's recommendation for a maximum number of hosts for a VLAN if you want to build a "healthy " network ?

Thanks in advance,

Marcelle.

[thisisshanky · Accepted solution]

This link should give you a good idea on how broadcasts affect a network. A vlan is one broadcast domain. So as the number of hosts increases, the number of broadcasts seen and processed by the hosts will increase.

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/idg4/nd20e.htm

Sizing a vlan should also depend on the type of protocol that you are running in the network and not just number of users. Recommended sizing for PCs for running IPX is 300 while if you run a mix of protocols the number goes down below 300 (not sure how much).

HTH

[konigl · Accepted solution]

Marcelle,

The following link is to a response I posted a couple months ago. I think it has the answers you are looking for. The information is taken from an excellent Cisco Press book, "Top-Down Network Design"...

http://forum.cisco.com/eforum/servlet/NetProf?page=netprof&CommCmd=MB%3Fcmd%3Dpass_through%26location%3Doutline%40%5E1%40%40.ee9b7f1/0#selected_message

If the link doesn't work, just search the forums for the book title and you will find the message I'm referring to.