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I have to set up our network in our new office. I'm no networking expert (developer), but I need some input and advice here for some things I wonder about.

I have purchased the following:

  • 2 x Cisco CS200 smart-switch 24p
  • 1 x VoIP PBX (VoIP + 4 access points)
  • 1 x dual LAN router
  • 4 x 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi access points (Wi-F1 1)
  • 2 x 5 GHz access points (Wi-Fi 2)

Connected like this:

  • Switch 1 (link port) is connected to the router
  • Switch 2 (link port) is connected to Switch 1 (standard port)
  • PBX/access points and Wi-Fi are all connected to the switches

My questions are about the networking itself:

  • Am I killing the speed connecting SW1->SW2 through a regular port? Should I get a SFP cable, or does that not matter for this size of network?

  • Would it be smarter to connect SW2 directly to the router instead of to SW1?

The other questions I have are about (probably) VLANs:

  • I would like to isolate the PBX/VoIP part, and prioritize traffic from this. The Cisco switches have some options for this, I think, but would this be smart to set a VLAN to those only, or is it overkill? Any directions to how I can do this? The most important thing is that the phone system gets highest priority on the network, and I don't want/need the people to be able to access it.

  • I would like Wi-Fi 1 to be the primary network (a VLAN for this too?). Wi-Fi 2 is thought of as an extra fast network for our developers, with very few limitations, but I would like this network to be able to see the primary network (Wi-Fi 1), but I don't want Wi-Fi 1 to be able to see Wi-Fi 2. Can this be done?

The last question is very basic about VLANs. Am I correct in the understanding that the VLAN has to flow from the router? As the switches are not layer-3, so the router has to control the VLAN, right?

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    Aug 12, 2017 at 4:26

2 Answers 2

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Had a look at the cs200 switch from the documentation found at http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/small-business-200-series-smart-switches/data_sheet_c78-634369.html

It appears the CS200 switch doesn't support routing. You will have to create a trunk port from switch1 to the router while on the router connected to switch1, create what is known as router-on-a-stick.

See http://www.firewall.cx/cisco-technical-knowledgebase/cisco-routers/336-cisco-router-8021q-router-stick.html

My 2 cents for your network implementation, wifi (currently half-duplex csma-ca) is a convenience that is great for mobile users. If you want reliability, stability and performance for your workers, you really should consider wired connectivity (full duplex) as primary.

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  • your do not need to connect the SFP ports, you getting the same performance with the normal port.
  • I do not find as per your description any difference between SW1 and SW2, so there is no difference
  • It is preferred to configure the Voice VLAN and the configuration will depend on if you will connect the users to the LAN port on the IP phone. -for your last question, yes you can control the traffic between Wifi 1 and wifi 2 by configuring access lists on the router
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