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Hello SpiceHeads,

So if you have ever followed any of my posts you might know i work for some cobbled together offices, the type that are what is IT and how does it make me money type of offices.

Anyways the owner of companies now is moving his first companies office, the current one was setup before my time and the owner did all the wiring (see hanging from roofs/not acceptable) and the whole office is one ticking time bomb. Now they are going to be moving with me at the helm of the transition. Luckily I’ve been given the okay to pretty much buy whatever is needed within reason. Now he does want to reuse whatever he can to save money which is fine. So i have a few questions to see what you guys think if I’m on the same page or not.

So the new office will have the following.

Internet: 75-100d 15up

Users: 30-35

Devices: 15 comps, 25-35 VOIP phones, 4 printers, and 2 AP’s

MAYBE 1 server to host inside web programs.

This is my current plan for the moment thanks to one of my other posts you helped me answer.

ISP modem - Cisco RV320 router - 48 port Cisco 10/100 switch(existing) - 48 port patch panel.

my only worry is the current switch, the owner would like to reuse if possible but i don’t know if it would throw a wrench in anything being its only 100mb. So what do you think should i insist on a new one or do you think i can getaway with it for now? All the users will be doing is web based Apps, soft phones and the VOIP phones. Another unknown is the voip phones we currently have are only 10/100 so idk if the new ones he is getting will be too.

Thanks in advanced!

2 Spice ups
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100mbps is fine for 90% of office setups to the desk.

You wouldn’t want your link between two switches at 100, but otherwise you are fine. We run 200 workstations each with a cisco voip phone, they are all 100 to the switch, then 1 gig from the distribution switch back to the core. This includes our customer service team. no issues at all.

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Ok thats how i have my other office setup we have a 1gb from the router to the switch and a 1gb from switch to server. just want to make sure thats a good setup

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unless you are regularly moving around large files or streaming media constantly you wouldn’t see much change between the 100m and 1g

It sucks for me, I work with both our dev and network teams but sit with the devs. I hate that 100 connection when I’m trying to move large files around, the network team is all plugged in at a gig…

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For that small of an environment 100Mbit switches are probably alright for the client desktops. More then likely your VOIP phones are POE, why not buy a refurb POE switch?

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It believe it is a refurb POE switch he put in about 2 years ago its only ever serviced about 5 devices.

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Thats one thing I’ve never gotten is POE so with that i could effectively eliminate the power cord for the phone correct?

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yeah that’s right, if your switch is also connected to a UPS than you can protect your phone’s. You will also need to check the switch has enough POE to support the all the phone’s.

1 Spice up
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Does the existing network gear do what is needed without any issue?

The switch is a easy thing to replace later on, I would make sure that the things that are a huge pain to replace, like the wiring in the walls, is all in line before swapping out the switch if it’s working properly.

We still have switches that have been in service since 2006 or so still going strong with no need to replace them since they are able to handle the load without issue. Age is a concern but we have spares sitting around the office that we can swap in the event of a problem.

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The existing network does but Barely and if you saw the hardware or lack there of you would probably cry…

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Lack of hardware isn’t always an issue - we have been decommissioning redundant hardware and moving stuff to the cloud and have cut about 20U of hardware out of our racks over the last little while. Some of our best moves have been to get rid of kit in the office as opposed to adding more of it.

That being said, if the hardware isn’t doing the job it’s time to switch it out, even if it’s technically “hanging on” the thing to keep in mind is the cost of having to replace it at the last second when (not if) it does fail.

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Tomorrow just for giggles I’ll show you what they currently have XD

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Overall I would say keeping that switch shouldn’t be an issue. The only thing you didn’t mention was if the 10/100 switch is managed. I would assume in a VOIP environment it would be. Other than that if the switch seems to be handling the network traffic without issues theres no real speaking point for replacement. Though as mentioned if it dies suddenly do you have a backup to keep the network from going down until a replacement can be acquired? Since its the only one you have its kind of the end all be all. If it goes down everything goes down. You may want to look at getting approval for a hot spare while the check book is open.

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Hi Josh, Actually upon father inspection today i discovered a very good thing. The switch is a Netgear (don’t know which one) But it is managed (currently being used unmanaged) with POE and FULL 48 port 10/100/1000. i never guessed they would have good equipment but since the one owner of the other businesses (the bean counter) is only a manager at this one i guess they actually spent good money for once XD

1 Spice up
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Then I would say put that managed switch to good use. I know for such a tiny environment there’s really not the necessity for separate VLANs but I like to keep VOIP phones on a different vlans just because its good practice and its easier for trouble shooting but that’s just my opinion.

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That’s a good idea which I will keep in mind but as it is the amount of outlets we will have in each office wouldn’t be enough for that. The bad thing will end up being I will have a group of 20 cubicles connected to a switch that feeds back to the main switch on one connection.

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So you have something like a 24 port switch feeding back to the 48 port switch? Is it connected back via fiber or just into one of the ethernet ports on the 48 port switch? Is the switch in a cabinet? Is distance the reason new drops weren’t run to accommodate all jacks back to the single switch?

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I will eventually be one Ethernet back to the 48port. But I’m thinking money and sanity wise it would be simpler just to run the 20+ drops yea more labor but still cheaper then a new switch and fiber between the too. I’m here now so I’ll post pictures of what I have to work with

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Easier to troubleshoot as well. We used to put desktop switches down at common areas and have everybody feed off of them, much easier to have the actual jacks in the wall. That way you don’t have a whole pod of workstations go down if one line has an issue or someone spills coffee on the switch sitting under/on their desk.

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Ya considering that switch would control the entire sales team that would be bad