Routed or Flat Network?

[towen]

Hi all,

 

Just wanted to see how many people run a routed network compared to a flat network in terms of network design?

 

and also how many of you have one curriculum domain and one admin domain versus 1 whole school domain joining the two together?

 

Our school has a flat network design (i.e. one subnet for all) with one core router for internet access.

[sreiach]

In my last school I created a routed campus with several VLAN's using different subnets. There was also only one AD Domain. (300+ Desktops).

 

I've just moved to a school that is one flat network with one subnet. One of the top things on my adgenda is creating a routed VLAN network. Having everyone in one big subnet makes me cringe. I like the idea of compartmentalizing. Also it makes the network more efficient when you get to larger size networks.

 

I think one AD domain can easily run a school. You can wield it to even make it look like it's more then one domain. ie students can log into @students.school.edu and teachers to @teachers.school.edu yet its one domain.

[localzuk]

I've just, a week or so ago, finished converting from a flat network to a routed network for the reasons sreiach mentions.

[andyrite]

1 Domain and routed network here. Been running a routed network for nearly a year. Using a HP 4160GL as the core.

[webman]

In a school environment what real-world benefits do you get from dividing the network in that manor?

[iatkinson]

2 AD domains and about a dozen subnets. 2 domains because when setup we wanted seperate password policies for staff and students and software wasn't available to allow this. Planning on moving to one domain when we have the time to migrate the users.

[torledo]

In my last school I created a routed campus with several VLAN's using different subnets. There was also only one AD Domain. (300+ Desktops).

 

I've just moved to a school that is one flat network with one subnet. One of the top things on my adgenda is creating a routed VLAN network. Having everyone in one big subnet makes me cringe. I like the idea of compartmentalizing. Also it makes the network more efficient when you get to larger size networks.

 

I think one AD domain can easily run a school. You can wield it to even make it look like it's more then one domain. ie students can log into @students.school.edu and teachers to @teachers.school.edu yet its one domain.

 

Which routing protocol will you be running ?

[enjay]

In a school environment what real-world benefits do you get from dividing the network in that manor?

The separation of admin and curriculum seems to be the winner for most people; not practical here, mind you, as we have too many dual-role people and data shared between teachers and admin staff. Personally, I'd rather put decent security on the one network than try and deal with the complications of two.

 

I would run a second one though if plans to have Sixth Formers bringing in their own laptops ever get off the ground.

[bossman]

@sreiach:

 

I would personally only use VLANs in a large corporate environment as my colleague webman has stated already why do you need VLANs for an educational environment it seems like a little overkill don't you think?

[webman]

Here we go again

 

Although you say the separation of admin/curric is the winner for most people, the current poll result does not show this.

 

As you said, a lot of roles in a school require staff users to have access to data on both networks. Operating system file and share permissions are adequate enough to provide the required level of security in my opinion.

[Geoff]

Flat network with admin/curriculum split.

[nicholab]

Vlan can reduce the back ground network noise. Try a packet sniffer and see the amount of stuff each network card is processing. Vlan and QoS are things we can do to improve network speed. A wireless Vlan would be the 1st place to start as it has the least bandwidth to spare.

[sidewinder]

Flat network, 1 domain, with 800 clients

 

I have been thinking about setting up VLANS but there is the disadvantage I know next to nothing about how to set them up, and would it really speed things up to any noticable degree?

 

I have to be honest I have noticed a lot of broadcast traffic from various devices when using Wireshark so maybe it would be worth it

[StewartKnight]

Tim and I had reason to discuss this on Thursday. We seemed to recall that BECTA guidelines were 1 flat network (admin and ciricculum combined)

 

Does anyone know where I could find the BECTA document that discusses joining the ciricculum and admin networks together?

[localzuk]

In a school environment what real-world benefits do you get from dividing the network in that manor?

 

Well it allows for network broadcast data to be chopped up - this means when you ghostcast a bunch of machines, your entire network doesn't slow down - instead just the subnet you are on slows down.

 

Also, we run VOIP phones on our infrastructure - VLAN's allow for some guarentee of quality and reliability. Same goes for video conferencing.

[webman]

We don't use ghost, don't use VOIP and videoconferencing devices are all in a physical DMZ.

[localzuk]

then there isn't much point of using vlans in your school The right tool for the right job I say.

[nathan]

We have to follow EMBC's standard network build, so its flat network with 1 domain. We deal mainly with primary schools so i dont think theres any advantage of anything more.

[sreiach]

Another advantage is security.

 

For example:

 

You can have all of administrations computers on one logical network, no matter where they are located on campus. Students computers, their own laptops or whatever, on another network. With no route between the given vlans you dont have to worry about viruses, P2P, broadcast storms, DOS attacks.. or even kids nosein about where they don't belong because there's litteraly no route for the packets to take.

 

All you need is one smart kid.

 

As long as you plan ahead and script the whole process I found vlans very easy to implement. I used all cisco equipment which I'm sure helped but cant imagine it being that different on other hardware.

[maniac]

While we're on the topic of Vlans and such, how complex are they to set up? I've never ventrued near the technology, not because I'm not interested or because our network infrastructure won't support it (I know most of it will) but because I've never found a guide that explains how to actually configure a network into VLANs, and the best practises for doing it. If anyone has any good guides, I'd be pleased to hear from them!

 

Mike.