Hello. I am currently considering a Cisco Catalyst 2970 as the core switch on our single sunbnet network with about 75 total nodes. There is considerable traffic between the servers and we would like to keep that traffic seperated from our workgroup. I want to verify that there would not be a problem with this switch interacting with several Dell unmanaged layer2 switches we currently have in place as 'closet' switches distributing data to several different workgroups. Here is the setup I am considering...several main servers and other switches plugged into the 2970... Catalyst 2950 - server - server - server - dell switch -workgroup pc -workgroup pc -workgroup pc - dell switch -workgroup pc -workgroup pc Please advise if this would be a workable solution to keep out workgroups free of unwanted traffic. Thanks!

So right now you have two Dell unmanaged switches? "There is considerable traffic between the servers and we would like to keep that traffic seperated from our workgroup. " I find this surprising. Normall server traffic is mainly related to client requests. Your workgroups would be creating more traffic on the wire then the servers would due to workgroup broadcasts. But this really doesn't matter. You have switches not hubs so traffic is sent from source to distination without hitting everyone. If you want to physically isolate your workgroups then yes have the servers off a main switch and the dell switches off the main switch. Then have each workgroup on a switch. The workgroup traffic wouldn't leave the switch until a request is made of the servers. If you have workgroups that span switches it really doesn't matter controlling traffic since the traffic has to traverse thru the dell to the cisco to the other dell to the wkst. That is traffic that has to go thru two shared pipes. You never want to do cisco<->dell<->dell but cisco<->dell <->dell <->dell <->servers Considerations: This model goes 1000mb. Consider putting gig copper cards in the servers to maximize bandwidth. Talk to cisco and dell to ask if you can do trunking between the dell switches and the cisco. Trunking will provide more bandwidth between the dells and cisco switch.

Thanks for the reply wanderer. The majority of server traffic comes from our webservers talking to the database servers. I regularly see 10-30 MBit/sec between the two machines, but have captured traffic at up to 80 Mbit/sec, which obviously brings the rest of our network to a virtual standstill. By utilizing the 2970 at the core with the servers directly in it, and the workgroup dell switches also into the 2970 I am hoping to overcome this issue. We will be putting gig copper cards into the servers shortly. I will investigate the trunking issue. Thanks for your input.

Hello. I made a diagram which demonstrates what I believe should be happening. Does this make sense or should all of the dell switches go into the 2970? Is that a good spot for the mail server? Any input is greatly appreciated. http://24.243.58.157/network.gif Thanks.

Nice diagram. I wouldn't put in the dell switch between the cisco and workgroup dell switches. You don't need it. If these were hubs yes but with switches you don't. "The majority of server traffic comes from our webservers talking to the database servers. I regularly see 10-30 MBit/sec between the two machines, but have captured traffic at up to 80 Mbit/sec, which obviously brings the rest of our network to a virtual standstill." This traffic would only slow down access to the servers involved. It should never slow down the workgroup traffic unless the workgroup traffic was going thru a shared pipe [uplink between switches]. This would happen if you had one server on one switch and the other server on another switch. So you can have two servers and two workgroup pcs on the same switch. The workgroup pcs won't slow down until they are trying to contact the busy servers. Are these servers running raid5 arrays that are partitioned? In other words one raid array [usually 3 drives] and two partitions on this array? Can be a serious bottleneck. So have your Cisco with the servers and the downlinks to the dells which connect the workgroups. I did notice you had your mail server off the center dell switch. This brings up the question of firewalls and DMZ zones. A lot of folks have a firewall, then a DMZ which contains their web and mail servers, then a different firewall, then their database and company file servers. Idea is that the hacker or attack will be seen at the DMZ level and corporate can be protected.