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Bandwidth calculation and network design

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by trackme

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Hi ,
I have a network with 140 Computers disturbuted in 3 floors.I want to design such that i need to inter connect all these Computers so that first floor computers cant access the second floor Computers ,simlarly third floor Computers cant access1 or 2 flr Computers but all the floors should use the same internet line .
Should i go for VLANS or domain setup etc .
What is the design setup and what are the equipments needed to achive this .
One more thing is that i need to know how much bandwidth is needed for all the Computers to get internet connection .
Currently i'm having a 512k leased line ,Is that enough ..How to check the bandwidh usage of each computers.
Is it possible to split the bandwidth so that i can allocate 64k alone from the 512 k bandwidth for video conferencing alone ..so that at any given time i have a dedicated 64 k bandwidth for video conf from 512k total bandwidth.
Is it possible ,what are the equipments required for this .
Please help since i need to make this work at the earliest .

4 replies

by lju

What I would do is get a firewall with 4 ports, set up switches on each level of the building that don't connect to eachother, rather only to each port of the firewall, and then set up the 4th firewall port leading to the external connection. Then set rules to not allow cross traffic between the floors.

As far as bandwidth goes it depends on what the clients are doing. Depending on the firewall software you may be able to limit the bandwidth to each port but if you want to have dedicated bandwidth for video conferencing it sounds like you want layer3 switching.

by tommymcbrayer

Curious to what your definition of Domain is. Do you already have gear in place? VLANS will work, you can setup sepearate VLAN(S) on each floor's switch and still have them all share the internet. If they will be sharing the same switch or switches then you will need to establish a VTP Domain and use trunking. I am curious about the 64k for video conferencing and what protocol you are using for your video. If this is for a web cam then it is ok I guess. Typical video calls range in the 128k increments, the high bandwith being best of course. If you are running video on the network then you will need to also configure QOS on your router and the switch port your video codec is attached to. Hope this helps.

TL McBrayer CNE-5, CNE-6, CCNP, CXE

by srikrishna

Hello,I guess VLAN can be an answer to ur first question..and when it comes to the second,Its all depend on wht exactly your employees are using net for.If they are using any BW hungry applications then you may require more BW.And when it comes to sharing or allocatining BW,If you have ISA server(If ur N/W is MS)Yes its possible.If its Linux then I dont have to say its possible.
ISA server you can configure BW rules.For further information/step to step guides you plz refer to Microsoft Documentation/TechNet.
Best Regards
Srikrishna.K

by wlbowers

A lot of what we tell you depends on whether
equipment is in place now or not.

Here are the obvious questions I would ask you if you
contracted me as a consulant.

1. What is the operation type. Will there be servers on
each floor or will it be peer to peer.

2. What will be the extimated percentage of internet
activity, per machine or per floor. Occasional email or
internet search (light internet access), will demand
differently than graphics designers or web database
developers (potential for heavy internet access).

3. Is your leased line a full 512 of do you have a CIR
cap. (commited information rate) This would be where
the provider guarantees you say 128k without
interruptions and anything above that is subject to
being interrupted or split. This would affect large data
transfers the most.

The above questions outstanding you could put a
10/100 switch on each floor and run the switches to a
router. All of your do/don't connectscan be
accomplished in a good router configuration.

A lot of assumptions are taken at this point. More
information could provide you with better
configurations.

Good Luck Lee

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