Jean-Marc

Thanks that does help. It shouldn't be a big deal to connect the iSCSI directly. I will do that. As far as the office goes there is only 2 computers not including the NVR. I suppose it would be ideal to have them on seperate VLANS, but as far as traffic goes, it's pretty much mostly the cameras streaming to the NVR. I think we will just look at getting the iSCSI traffic off of the switch and leave it at that. Next time we do something like this, I'll be installaing a smart switch for sure. Marc.

Hello, I was lookng up information on setting up VLANs and came accross this posting. Wow...you must be a good teacher, becuase after searching through a lot of convoluted blurbs about VLAN networking, this posting was like a breath of fresh air. Crystal clear explanation for a new learner! I have a question for you. Recently we set up an IP surveillance system that connected a bunch of IP cameras, a NAS box running on an iSCSI ethernet connection, and a basic office network that had access to the NVR recorder. The NVR, cameras and office are on the same network range. The iSCSI storage appliance is on a different network range. Both of these networks are connected to the NVR with two seperate NICs. I have these connections converging into a gigabit switch that is in turn connected to the two NVR network cards. Is this the type of setup that should be using a VLAN capable switch (maybe also with QoS) to ensure smoother operation of both networks converging into one switch, or does it matter? I am wondering if there is inefficient data flow or collisions occurring because I have all this data streaming from cameras on one IP range, and a constant stream of data going to the NAS box on another IP range, all through an inexpensive D-Link switch. Perhaps I need to revisit this and set it up with a better switch to ensure smoother networking? Hopefully you can give me your thoughts on this.