Question: Design VLANs and Subnets

This project ties together several skills you have studied in this chapter. Suppose you have decided to implement VLANs as a solution for slow network performance on the company network depicted in Figure 10-25. You want two VLANs, one for the Manufacturing Department and one for the Administrative Department. Employees on all three floors of the building work in each department, as shown in the figure. You are authorized to purchase up to four programmable switches to replace existing switches, and you are not authorized to purchase a new router.

The current private Class A network ID is 10.0.0.0. You have decided to subnet the VLANs to allow four VLANs, which will give some room for growth in the corporation. Do the following:

1. Draw a diagram of your network design solution, showing in the diagram the location of all programmable switches. Use color or another method to depict VLANs for each department.

2. What is the original subnet mask for the entire large network? What is the subnet mask of each VLAN?

3. If the Manufacturing VLAN uses the first available subnet, what is the network ID of this VLAN? If the Administrative VLAN uses the second available subnet, what is its network ID?

4. What is the range of host IP addresses of the Manufacturing VLAN? Of the Administrative VLAN?

5. Compare your network design solution with another student's design and discuss any differences you see.