What address do I set VLAN1 to on the Cisco Switch?

[bgmiller38]

I have what I think is a very simple question for anywhere here – but since I know nothing about networks, it’s a hard question for me. 

I have 5 servers and a cisco switch to place at a co-location facility and I want to configure the switch properly.  I have been provided a subnet to use by the facility of xxx.xxx.xxx.144/29.  I know that this means the following:

·         xxx.xxx.xxx.144 = Network ID

·         xxx.xxx.xxx.145 = Gateway Address

·         xxx.xxx.xxx.146 through xxx.xxx.xxx.150 = Usable IP’s for my servers

·         xxx.xxx.xxx.151 = Broadcast IP

I plugged the network from co-location facility into F0/1 of the Cisco 2900 switch and then plugged my servers into the other ports on the switch.  My servers have already been configured to the IP ranges from xxx.xxx.xxx.146 - xxx.xxx.xxx.150.

My question is:  Do I configure the Cisco Switch so that it’s VLAN1 address is set to xxx.xxx.xxx.144/29 or leave it at it’s default setting of 192.168.1.1/24?

The reason I ask this question is because I'm getting thousands of dropped packets and no packet or framing errors with it set to it's VLAN1 default 192.168.1.1/24 config.  All the dropped packats are on F0/1.  There are no other VLANs and all ports are at 100Mb/s Full Duplex.

Thank you so much for your assistance and answers

[Mahesh Gohil]

Hello Brent,

Network---Switch---Servers

If this is the scenario then .145 might be already there at network side and you are assigned from .146 to .150 as a usable IP.

In this case you can leave your switch as L2 only.

No need to configure any IP-- you can configure a default-gateway as .145.

If your topology is Switch->5-servers then you can configure .145 in switch and rest of the servers from .146 to .140.

192.168.1.1/24 is of no use here

Hope it is helpful

Regards
Mahesh

[bgmiller38]

Thank you all very much for your replays ...

So, Mahesh, after changing the default VLAN1 of the switch to xxx.xxx.xxx.144/29, the address of the switch itself would be xxx.xxx.xxx.145 that I would access over the web to manage the switch (plugged into F0/1) and the other servers would then be accessed via their respective IP's (.146-.150) and plugged into ports F0/2 ... F0/3 ... etc.

That's correct right?  If that is correct - that is exactly what my question was and am very grateful for all your answers.

[firemtngems]

Hi Brent,

I recommend that you make sure you understand the security implications of your topology.  I only mention it because you stated that you didn't have much in the way of network experience.  If your device will be accessible from the public Internet, make sure you (at least) disable telnet and use only SSH to access it.  In addition, you should limit (by way of access lists) which IPs can access the SSH session.

If all this is obvious to you then good enough.

Cheers,

Mike

[Talha Ansari]

it is advisable to avoid vlan 1 to be configured for traffic.

if you have configured your servers in vlan 1 then you must apply ip address on the vlan 1 from the same subnet in which your servers are present.

[Thiyagu VG]

Hi,

If you want that switch as a Manageble(From the Network) then yes, you should have a valid IP Address assigned to VLAN #1 Interface.

Kind Regards,

ThiyaguVG.