Switch VLANs for non CISCO routers

[jcolley729]

Hi, 

My apologies as I am new to CISCO networking in general. 

I have the following scenario. 

Equipment:

• A non cisco router which has to be used that provides 3 VLANS (10.81.0.*, 10.82.0.* and 10.83.0.*) accessible via a single Ethernet port for each VLAN
• 1 Catalyst 2960 24 Port POE Switch (switch 1)
• 1 Catalyst 2960-S 24 port POE Switch (switch 2)

What I want to be able to to do is to assign certain port ranges for each switch to different VLANS from the router.

for example.... 

Switch 1 ports 1- 15 can access external router VLAN1 

Switch 1 ports 16 - 24 and switch 2 ports 1-10 can access external router VLAN2

Switch 2 ports 11-24 can access external router VLAN3

My questions are:

1. is this possible with my current hardware? Can i simply configure VLANS on the switches and use one port in each of the VLAN ranges for the uplink to the router?

2. For VLAN 2 in the above example, what is the best way to configure a VLAN that spans ports on 2 switches?

3. If I want a certain device connected to a specific port on VLAN1 to be accessible to all other VLANS, how can I enable this?

Please be kind in your responses as I am new to this. 

Regards, 

James.

[rakeshvelagala]

Hi James,

If I understand correctly, below is what you are trying to achieve?

http://www.networkstraining.com/cisco-router-on-a-stick-with-switch/

You can trunk the switches.

Thanks

[mfurnival]

It does somewhat depend on the capabilities of your (non-Cisco) router and whether it supports the creation of multiple IP interfaces and routing between them. But assuming it does then everything you describe should be possible. To answer your questions:

1. is this possible with my current hardware? Can i simply configure VLANS on the switches and use one port in each of the VLAN ranges for the uplink to the router?

Yes, you can do this.

2. For VLAN 2 in the above example, what is the best way to configure a VLAN that spans ports on 2 switches?

Create the VLAN on both switches and configure the link between the two switches as a trunk allowed to carry VLAN 2.

3. If I want a certain device connected to a specific port on VLAN1 to be accessible to all other VLANS, how can I enable this?

If you configure routing on the router correctly all devices in all VLANs will be able to talk to one another.

[Atul Choudhary]

Hi James,

For your requirement, Please find below answers:

1. is this possible with my current hardware? Can i simply configure VLANS on the switches and use one port in each of the VLAN ranges for the uplink to the router?

Yes, you can do that. As you want to allow multiple VLANs from same interface i.e connected to router, interface need to be in trunk mode and router interface should be in encapsulation dot1q.

2. For VLAN 2 in the above example, what is the best way to configure a VLAN that spans ports on 2 switches?

Interface should be in trunk mode.

3. If I want a certain device connected to a specific port on VLAN1 to be accessible to all other VLANS, how can I enable this?

As mentioned earlier, you need to enable inter-vlan routing. If your switch is L3 device then inter-vlan routing can be enabled on switch itself. If it is L2 switch then,

Inter-Vlan routing vlan need to be enabled using router. Below steps will be required for inter-vlan routing.

1. Switch interface connected to router should be in trunk mode allowing all vlan 1,2 and 3.

2. Sub-interface should be created on router, assigning IP address of specific vlan like:

interface Gi0/0.1

ip address 10.81.0.*

encapsulation dot1Q 1

exit

interface Gi0/0.2

ip address 10.82.0.*

encapsulation dot1Q 2

exit

interface Gi0/0.3

ip address 10.83.0.*

encapsulation dot1Q 3

exit

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/lan-switching/inter-vlan-routing/41860-howto-L3-intervlanrouting.html

Regards,

Atul Choudhary

Rate if it helps

[mfurnival]

These are Cisco commands and he said that this is not a Cisco router.

My interpretation was that the router would have 3 physical interfaces and 3 connections to the switch in which case dot1q tagging is not appropriate here.

[Richard Burts]

I question the need to configure a trunk port to connect switch 1 and switch 2. If the objective is that both switch 1 and switch 2 will participate in vlan 2 and that any port in vlan 2 will be able to communicate with the router on its port in vlan 2 then it seems to me that all that is needed is for an access port on switch 1 in vlan 2 should connect to an access port on switch 2 in vlan 2. Both switches would share vlan 2 and any port in vlan 2 should access the router on its vlan 2 interface and no trunk required.

HTH

Rick