Narrowing network segments in tiny systems (<100 units)
Narrowing network segments in tiny systems (<100 units)
I have to design a network for a school thing. Its a small office. 4 offices, each one has 2 Ethernet jacks, 1 goes to a voip phone and then pc, the other is just there if needed 8 desks, each desk has 2 connections, 1 goes through a voip phone, then pc, the other to a second pc. 7 of these desks are on 2 switches (4 on one, 3 on the other, those switches go back to networking closet) 1 wireless access point attached to the network, needs to be able to handle 50 concurrent users everything is on a class C address scheme, should I use subnetting here, or just let it all be on 255.255.255.0? It seems like this is a small enough that assigning network addresses wouldn't be hard, and the router and access point can just be configured via software to limit connections. Am i missing something. This is just a conceptual school assignment so it doesn't exactly need to be 100% professional grade levels of rigor/security.
Set VoIP phones on separate subnets, allowing communication only with intended contacts. Decide whether Wi-Fi serves company or personal devices—consider isolating them or using two separate SSIDs per network. Implement a management subnet for Wi-Fi access points.
To group all phones onto one subnet, you’d set the default gateway to the router’s IP and ensure each phone is assigned to that subnet. Using 255.255.255.192 creates four subnets, which should accommodate around 60 hosts if properly configured. Assign the phones to the correct subnet and configure routing so devices on that subnet communicate via the router. The management-specific setup isn’t needed here.
You handled the switches correctly? Group all devices into the same VLAN, connect that VLAN to the router port, and assign each a DHCP IP in the appropriate subnet. Use a /24 for simplicity—smaller subnets won’t be beneficial here, and you’ll have plenty of private IP space available.
real world question. Is there any reason to have a small lan subnet like a /29 for example? I basically run /24s for everything unless I need to go bigger. THe only time I work with smaller than that is for wan uses or some point to point things.
In big corporate data centers there are clear reasons for using smaller subnets and specific cases where it's practical. For example, with thousands of remote employees you wouldn't want to waste space just because it's technically possible. I've noticed situations where companies shrink their subnet ranges to /28, /29, or even /30 when they need separate networks for two clients and a phone. Usually, on peer-to-peer links you'd still use /31 instead.
I checked the details. Yes, your router should have a DHCP utility. It connects to a switch, which links to another switch, and the desks are on that second switch. You should configure the DHCP range to assign addresses within a specific VLAN on the main switch. When a device on the second switch asks for an IP, it routes through the second switch to the first, then within the VLAN it goes to the main switch to the router. The router will respond with an appropriate range, such as 192.168.3.xxx or 192.168.4.xxx depending on the source.