It242 Wk 4 Day 7 a Vlan Plan
A VLAN Plan
Katherine Cunningham
Axia College of University of Phoenix
January 31, 2010
A VLAN Plan As corporate computer networks have grown more complex, so too has the need to maintain a logical layout of these networks. For example, a local company may have the need for more customer service associates for their call center than it can comfortably hold while the engineering department does not take up even half of their floor. Using a virtual local area network (VLAN), the network administrator can add customer service associates to the engineering floor while maintaining the logical organization that simply allows proper access to services and data security. Instituting a VLAN provides a network administrator with several benefits. VLANs, defined by manageable switches, are a way to ensure users maintain connectivity to the devices they need to connect with, regardless of physical location. Because broadcast (packets sent to everyone) and multicast (packets meant for multiple hosts) packets can present a security issue (if an engineering file transmits across the customer service network), a VLAN ensures only computers on the same VLAN will see the broadcast. Should a network administrator add a customer service associate to the engineering floor and use workgroups to determine services, unnecessary network traffic is created as the customer service associate traverses the engineering network to access those files and services necessary to customer service associates. In the scenario presented for this assignment, four logical divisions exist for the company’s network: operations, engineering, marketing, and the call center. The company is expanding and needs to shuffle people off their home floors and onto other floors and even into other locations. By segregating the company network into four broadcast domains, the network administrator can prevent the network from becoming flooded with traffic so that bandwidth is not
Katherine Cunningham
Axia College of University of Phoenix
January 31, 2010
A VLAN Plan As corporate computer networks have grown more complex, so too has the need to maintain a logical layout of these networks. For example, a local company may have the need for more customer service associates for their call center than it can comfortably hold while the engineering department does not take up even half of their floor. Using a virtual local area network (VLAN), the network administrator can add customer service associates to the engineering floor while maintaining the logical organization that simply allows proper access to services and data security. Instituting a VLAN provides a network administrator with several benefits. VLANs, defined by manageable switches, are a way to ensure users maintain connectivity to the devices they need to connect with, regardless of physical location. Because broadcast (packets sent to everyone) and multicast (packets meant for multiple hosts) packets can present a security issue (if an engineering file transmits across the customer service network), a VLAN ensures only computers on the same VLAN will see the broadcast. Should a network administrator add a customer service associate to the engineering floor and use workgroups to determine services, unnecessary network traffic is created as the customer service associate traverses the engineering network to access those files and services necessary to customer service associates. In the scenario presented for this assignment, four logical divisions exist for the company’s network: operations, engineering, marketing, and the call center. The company is expanding and needs to shuffle people off their home floors and onto other floors and even into other locations. By segregating the company network into four broadcast domains, the network administrator can prevent the network from becoming flooded with traffic so that bandwidth is not