Setting up VLANS

[willfachi]

I have a 20 3550/2950 clusters throughout my network that have vlans already on them. Question is,

server guy want to install 1 gig cards in their servers (Intel/Pro 1000) by just loading the drivers without any additional setup. I don't know enough (newbie) to explain to them the technical benefits of configuring the gig cards with vlan parameters even though the cards have that benefit. Could someone tell me the technical benefits of configuring the vlans on the cards and how they will interact with a network structure that already has vlans configured?

Also, how do I configure the gig port on the 3550 to properly accept the configure card. Is there a cisco document for this? I know that it has to be trunked but that is about it. Any help would be appreciated.

[marvin]

How are the VLANs currently being used in your organization? Do the servers need to be accessed by multiple VLANs? If the majority of the traffic for an individual server is on the same VLAN, you are probably better off just keeping the server in that particular VLAN. What operating system are the servers running? Windows 2000, for one, has limited support for 802.1q. Is the reason for going to Gigabit "because they can", or are the servers currently using the full 100Mb?

[willfachi]

Extensive data transfers across multiple vlans. Will soon be going to VOIP as well as tele-conferencing. Generally all data will be deployed from one Novell 5 server soon to include another. Server is maxed out at 100 and we need more bandwidth.

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Your help is greatly appreciated.

tia

willfachi