Vlan users size

[mcardell]

Good morning,

I have got a switching environment with around 300 users.

I am worried that 300 is a too big number for the domain. They are heavy users (email, printing, internet etc). Do you have any best practice indication (CCO link) about the design?

What is the best broadcast percentage allowed in the domain?

WHat is a alarming level (10%/20%)?

Thanks

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

there are no real clear-cut design rules, it all depends on user traffic patterns. VLANs with clients that use a high-bandwidth or broadcast-intensive application should have fewer users.

Anyway, 300 users in one VLAN definitely sounds like too many. The number of users might also be constrained by your IP addressing scheme (e.g. a Class C address space could never have more than 254 users anyway).

Check the link below for some guidelines:

IP Network Design, Part 4: Campus LAN Design

http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid7_gci803121,00.html

HTH,

GP

[mcardell]

Thanks,

Have you got any idea about the level of acceptable broadcast level in the VLAN?

Regards

Matteo

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello Matteo,

the actual level depends on traffic patterns and applications used; I would say, in general, with a level of 50, you are probably ok. Better yet if you monitor your network for a while, in order to find out how many broadcast packets are generated during normal operation, and adjust the level accordingly...

HTH,

GP

[mcardell]

Thanks,

50? Do you mean 50%?

Regards

Matteo

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello Matteo,

with 50 I indeed meant 50%...

Regards,

GP