Network Design Question

[rbinc]

I need some suggestions on how to design this network. Basically, I want "how would you do it" information.

Specs:

Backbone switch: 4006

Default Router: 3550

One subnet: 10.1.1.0/23 (changed to protect the innocent). Currently, my exisiting subnet has servers and clients. Only traffic going through the default router is wan traffic at the moment (and internet traffic)

My company is growing and I need to add another subnet to the mix - either /24 or /23 subnet.

My initial thoughts were to add another subnet and dedicate that subnet for clients only and the existing for servers. However, I am afraid to implement a bottleneck by doing this.

I would like some suggestions on how you would design this network.

Thanks in advance.

[thisisshanky]

I would assume, 4006 to be L3 only and 3550 running L3 image(EMI).

You could configure two different vlans on the 4006 and put servers in one vlan and clients in the second vlan.

Trunk the traffic to the 3550 and 3550 will take care of routing between the vlans.

If the 4500 has sup3 or sup4 and can run layer 3, you can route between the vlans using the L3 engine on the 4006 itself. 3550 can be used only for routing traffic to internet.

[rbinc]

I like the idea of vlans. The other admins balked at the idea:

But using a Vlan is Administratively High to setup and maintain. You will also need to buy extra equipment and what you get out of it is a smaller broadcast domain.

Do you believe this statement about vlans?

Thanks

[5r-graves]

You will get smaller broadcast domains, but with the equipment you already have, you can run VLANS. If you are looking at 2-4 VLANS the adminstration is realitively low. Once they are set up and you have the ports configured for the appropriate VLANS, everything should run without touching it again. If you need to change the VLAN a port is in, it is one simple command.

I would have to agree with the suggestion made either and implement VLANS.

Hope you can convince the other admins that VLANS are the way to go.