Creating a Cisco VLAN for the first time

mrk9017 · 05-07-2008, 06:29 AM

My office is undergoing a renovation, and we have decided on a Cisco IP phone system with M5 as the provider. I've ordered at Cisco Catalyst 3560G 48 port switch, and 7940 phones.

Here's my problem. I'm about to start installing Cat 6 cable in our office, and I was under the impression that the phones and computers could easily share one network port. Now I know that in order to do this, I mus set up a VLAN. I've never configured a Cisco switch like this, so I'm leaning towards running double the amount of cable and going with a dual physical LAN so each phone and PC will have their own network port and I can just leave the switch on DHCP. The problem with this, is that I will need more than the 48 ports on my switch.

Based on this, here are my questions:

1) If I go with a dual physical LAN, can I use a connect a dumb switch to the Cisco switch to add another 48 ports JUST for data, leaving the Cisco QoS switch for the phones?

2) Is there anybody that has any tips on setting up the VLAN in the Cisco switch so that I don't have to pull twice the amount of cable.

I'm desperate for help, and greatly appreciate any suggestions.

TheWiz · 05-29-2008, 09:33 PM

Hi. You do not need to double up your ports. In the switch configuration you can set up a "voice vlan" on each switch port as well as a "data vlan". The Cisco phones run a form of Dot1q trunking and have a small inbuilt switch. The phone connects to the switch and joins the voice vlan whilst switch the data vlan to a second port on the phone. You connect your PC to this port and it joins the data Vlan. The phone implements a form of QoS prioritising your voice traffic over the PC traffic. Both vlans will need to be configured in the switch and of course the switch will need to connect to a router which holds the gateway IP for each Vlan. There is a whole lot more but this should start you off.

Cheers

Wiz

05-07-2008, 06:29 AM	#1 (permalink)
mrk9017 Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1 OS: Mac OSX	Creating a Cisco VLAN for the first time My office is undergoing a renovation, and we have decided on a Cisco IP phone system with M5 as the provider. I've ordered at Cisco Catalyst 3560G 48 port switch, and 7940 phones. Here's my problem. I'm about to start installing Cat 6 cable in our office, and I was under the impression that the phones and computers could easily share one network port. Now I know that in order to do this, I mus set up a VLAN. I've never configured a Cisco switch like this, so I'm leaning towards running double the amount of cable and going with a dual physical LAN so each phone and PC will have their own network port and I can just leave the switch on DHCP. The problem with this, is that I will need more than the 48 ports on my switch. Based on this, here are my questions: 1) If I go with a dual physical LAN, can I use a connect a dumb switch to the Cisco switch to add another 48 ports JUST for data, leaving the Cisco QoS switch for the phones? 2) Is there anybody that has any tips on setting up the VLAN in the Cisco switch so that I don't have to pull twice the amount of cable. I'm desperate for help, and greatly appreciate any suggestions.

05-29-2008, 09:33 PM	#2 (permalink)
TheWiz Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 84 OS: XP Pro SP3, Vista home premium (arghhh)	Re: Creating a Cisco VLAN for the first time Hi. You do not need to double up your ports. In the switch configuration you can set up a "voice vlan" on each switch port as well as a "data vlan". The Cisco phones run a form of Dot1q trunking and have a small inbuilt switch. The phone connects to the switch and joins the voice vlan whilst switch the data vlan to a second port on the phone. You connect your PC to this port and it joins the data Vlan. The phone implements a form of QoS prioritising your voice traffic over the PC traffic. Both vlans will need to be configured in the switch and of course the switch will need to connect to a router which holds the gateway IP for each Vlan. There is a whole lot more but this should start you off. Cheers Wiz