IP Cam VLAN

[bwestlake]

Hi all,

 

As to date we have no current VLAN's set up. but we are going to invest in some IP Cameras for our cctv, i am aware that ip cameras can send a lot of data over the network and potentially slow down the whole network..

 

We have a stack of 5 3Com 5500 as our core switch and then some managed hp switches accross the school.

 

would it be posible to configure only specific ports on the switches to be on this vlan and then route it back to the core switch and the dvr??

[chazzy2501]

1. yes. 2. Vlans only control broadcast traffic and your ip cams shouldn't be send to much of that anyhow. 3. The 3com switches are pretty good at controlling broadcast traffic anyhow.

[Duke5A]

How many clients do you have on the network? A handful of IP cameras wouldn't necessarily need their own VLAN, but if you're entire building is on a flat network it might be a good idea to start. Typically it would look something like this:

 

- A VLAN for servers that is accessible by all.

- Management (switching infrastructure)

- An instructional VLAN for wired staff and student machines.

- One for security (IP cameras, IP enabled door lock controls, etc)

- Wireless clients

- Wireless management (for access points)

- Telephone systems

 

This is by no means a definitve list. It all depends on the size and diversity of your network. Setting up VLANs though is still a good idea, even if it's just a few. The district I came into used to have a lot of its equipment on the same VLAN wired computers were on, and this included the building phone systems. Out of the blue at almost every same time in the morning the phone system would go down. We had the phone vendor out to check over the equipment and he couldn't find anything wrong. Looking at Solarwinds though showed an uptick in broadcast traffic during every episode. Long story short, it turned out to be classroom monitoring software called LAN School causing the issue in a lab down the hall. Every morning the teacher would start it up at about the same time and it uses broadcast traffic to discover the clients. Phone systems apparently don't like to be interrupted. Moving the phone switches over to their VLAN fixed the issue.