I am working on a project to fix and upgrade a network in a small office for a relative. The current network is patched together with lots of gateway routers and hubs, so it’s a real mess and I want to clean it up.
He’s got 13 PC’s, 2 network printers, a file server (currently just an XP box with file sharing), and a DSL connection. He’d like to add his own email server, remote VPN, etc.
I intend to simplify the network by setting up a router and a single 24-channel switch. Everyone will need access to the file server, email, printers, and internet. The PCs don’t necessarily need to access one another, although they do have some desktop USB printers that could be shared among those in the same room.
I came up with an IP address scheme to split things up with one VLAN for internet/server/printers, and 4 additional VLANs for the different departments, who are physically in seperate rooms.
My question is, should I bother implementing VLANs on a network this small, if the main purpose is just to conserve bandwidth (ie, not security-related, or to isolate network resources)? I’m inclined just to throw everything on the same subnet, but I’d like some feedback before I decide.
