Best way to subnet a company

remyforbes777

I work for a architectual design firm and we are on a flat network meaning no subnetting at all. We have over 300 computers, about 25 servers, over 40 printers, a video conferencing system as well as WAP's , 20 switches (Foundry). I am trying to figure out a best practice way to subnet this all out. We have floors 3-7 with about 60 computers on each floor. Each floor has it's own set of printers, probably about 6-8 each floor. Each floor has about 3-4 switches and at least one WAP.
Would it be better to subnet each floor, then subnet the servers, then the switches and WAP's, and then put the printers on another subnet or have the printers be connected to the same subnet as the floor? Any advice would be really appreciated.

ilcram19-2

wow i wish i was the one the that shounds really fun, ill go with either a class A or B subnet
put the servers in a diferent subnet, create a subnet for the computer and access point or create diferrent subnet for the WAP, you should have enough space with a class A or B Subnet,
what kind of switches and router are u using?

hypnotoad

Here's how I would start it and then tweak as needed...192.168.0.1/24 (the default) gives 254 IPs per subnet. This should work pretty well IMO.

- Use 192.168.0.1 for the default or administrative VLAN. Put all the servers and switches in there. You should have plenty of IPs left over in this subnet (about 200). Put the switches for 3rd floor somewhere between IP 30-40, 4th floor between 40-50, etc.
- Skip 192.168.1.1 for expansion
- Use 192.168.2.1 for your video conferencing. Put the video conferencing in its own VLAN and give it QoS on the switches.
- Use 192.168.3.1 for the 3rd floor, 192.168.4.1 for the 4th, etc. That way you can quickly identify a problem.
- Use DHCP address pool for 192.168.x.20-254. Reserve the first 10 or 20 addresses for printers, etc. Assign the printers statically.
- Put all the WAPs in their own VLAN/subnet.

Of course, this is all assuming that:
1. You want to segregate subnets based on user floor (3-7) rather than job (accounting department, IT department, marketing dept, etc).
2. You'll be routing between subnets and your router won't be a choke point.
3. Your employer doesn't plan on dropping another 300 computers on you any time soon.

remyforbes777

We are using Foundry switches and we have fiber running from each switch down to our core Foundry Fiber router. That router is booting to a base layer 3 code which basically means it only routes because the switches are directly connected. Thanks for the advice.