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Best segmenting method.

By vid_ro ·
I administer what I would classify as a small network of approximately 175 nodes.
Network Traffic and other symptoms are suggesting that I should segment.
I have switches in place that can utilize VLAN configurations for segmenting but I am wonderif that is really the best method for optimizing network performance.
I was thinking about segmenting with routers.
Leaving out the issue of IP addressing and installation concerns,
What segmenting method has the best over all performance gain?

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Traffic versus Performance

by Oldefar In reply to Best segmenting method.

Generally speaking, traffic moves best at the simplist level. Routing adds delay versus bridging (VLAN).

Performance gain is a broader topic. Traffic volume may not be the major performance issue. For example, if all nodes are primarily accessing a single server then reducing traffic on the node segments will not result in significant performance gains. The aggregate traffic at the server remains constant.

My recommendation is to first analyze the conversation pairs to see how the traffic is flowing. Discover if there are groups of nodes that interact which you can then segment. Routing may work fine if most traffic remains within a particular group.

You might also do an application analysis. Often time performance issues are with the client or server platforms rather than the network. Look at total task completion and time on each element (client, network, server), then put your optimization effort on the element that adds the most time.

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