5540 and sub interfaces

[communication.boy]

One of my client has a 5540 security appliance where I have configured DMZ and other few things . Currently it has 4 workable interfaces excluding management interface . 3 of them are used for data connectivity because 1 port is for failover .

Now with 3 physical interface we have 4 zones using sub interfaces ( vlans ) . Recently there has been a change in network where they have introduced few other types of servers and now there is a request to make more zones

Avaliable Data interfaces are 3

Required Zones are 7

Now this is possible using sub interfaces ( vlan ) but I want to know if this is a recommended solution to use subinterfaces at such large scale and dividing every possible interface . It is a company of 1000 users , other option could be to put an 4GE-SSM card but please let me know if the subinterfaces solution is recommended one for enterprizes ?

[mirober2]

Hello,

Sub-interfaces will work fine for you, but just keep in mind that it is still a shared physical medium. Therefore, the sum of the aggregate traffic in all of the VLANs cannot exceed the capacity of the single physical interface. I would suggest ramping up the traffic slowly and monitoring for any performance issues, but otherwise you should be fine.

-Mike