VLAN Switch to Non VLAN Switch Question

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bmh.01

Gawd
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Mar 28, 2002
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I'm new to the vlan idea so please bear with what is probably a stupid question :eek:.

Setup will (hopefully!) be:

  • Netgear wndr3700 running openwrt which I intend to setup vlan tagging/trunking down to a netgear gs108e smart switch which again supports vlan tagging with the vlans set to seperate ports.
  • Seperate dhcp server on the router for each of the vlans running in seperate subnets.

Now if I connect a dumb GS108 switch to one of the vlan tagged/trunked ports on the GS108E will it enable to me have 8 ports on that vlan?

Or am I getting the wrong end of the stick?

Do all the switches need to support vlans and tag every packet or will the packets from the dumb 108 get tagged on the GS108E then the router can pick them up?

Like I said probably a stupid question but any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Now if I connect a dumb GS108 switch to one of the vlan tagged/trunked ports on the GS108E will it enable to me have 8 ports on that vlan?
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I think you have the terminology backwards (a port with a single vlan is untagged/not trunked, a port that has multiple vlans is tagged/trunked), but yes, as long as the packets have no vlan tag (ie, single vlan) your dumb switch will work normally.
 
I quite possibly do as I said i'm new to the whole concept but it will hopefully allow me to do what I want.

Just to be 100% clear then say port 1 on the managed switch was set to a vlan with an address of 192.168.10.1 on the router and the dumb switch was connected to this port then that would allow me to connect 7 computers to the dump switch that would all be on the same vlan and be assigned 192.168.10.* addresses?

All a good learning curve and I value the help :).
 
bmh.01 said:
Just to be 100% clear then say port 1 on the managed switch was set to a vlan with an address of 192.168.10.1 on the router and the dumb switch was connected to this port then that would allow me to connect 7 computers to the dump switch that would all be on the same vlan and be assigned 192.168.10.* addresses
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As for whether they can connect: yes, if port 1 is set up as an untagged/not trunked port with a single vlan, you can connect a dumb switch to that port and devices attached to the dumb switch will be on the single vlan.

As for what IP address the devices attached to the dumb switch will be assigned, that depends entirely on how you set up DHCP. There's no reason why they would NEED to have a 192.168.10 address just because 192.168.10.1 is the management IP for the vlan. However, you certainly can give them 192.168.10 addresses if you want to.
 
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That is what I wish to do IP wise to seperate certain things into different subnets and have firewall rules to control routing between the subnets.

What i've just noticed i've neglected to mention is that there is only one cable run between the router and the switch (different rooms) and I would like 3 maybe 4 vlans off the managed switch. Would this not require vlan port trunking? Or is that only on the port between the switch and the router?
 
Think I may have explained that to myself, as I will only need 1 vlan per port for the links to the dump switches then tagging/trunkining doesn't need to be enabled only assigned per port and I only need to trunk on the single uplink between the router and switch correct?
 
Think I may have explained that to myself, as I will only need 1 vlan per port for the links to the dump switches then tagging/trunkining doesn't need to be enabled only assigned per port and I only need to trunk on the single uplink between the router and switch correct?
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Yup...I hope you congratulated yourself on your ability to explain things 8)
ps- If you want to be a bastard, use crossover cables to connect switches to other switches. It's technically the correct way but it will confuse the weak.
 
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