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indigo6

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VLAN using PowerConnect 6348

Hello,
     I currently have a Dell PowerConnect 6248 which connects to an adjacent office using a fiber media converter to extend the LAN to two unmanaged switches on the other side. I'm running low on IP addresses and would like to know if it would be possible to setup a VLAN for the second office using just this switch. We will have LACP setup on this switch so that it can communicate with another switch in the office, I don't know if that would interfere, I just thought I'd include that info. The way I'm envisioning it working is setting up another VLAN for everything on the other side of the fiber media converter, but I don't know how the devices over there will get IPs, DNS, etc. I would also like to ensure communication between the two VLANs.

Thank you for any help.
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Soulja
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If the switch in the remote site is unmanaged. It will take on the vlan of the port that it is uplinked to.

For example:

If the fiber port on the 6248 is assigned to vlan x, the entire unmanaged switch connected to the port will be on vlan x.

In order to get dhcp to the vlan, you will just use dhcp relay or ip helpers on your Dell switch to forward broadcasts to your dhcp server. The vlan interfaces that you create on your 6348 will provide the routing between vlans.
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indigo6

ASKER

Ok, so can I configure the additional DHCP range on my existing DHCP server? Also, as far as the configuration is concerned, I'm a little confused as to what has to happen... So I need to configure the port for the media converter to be on a second VLAN, that is clear, where I'm a bit hazy is what to do with my DHCP server, DHCP relay, and IP helpers. I'll look through the configuration guide though. Basically I want two VLANs, the 10.30.0.x, which is the existing LAN, and 10.30.1.x, which is the new VLAN, both should communicate with each other. So all I need to do is configure the switch? I don't need to configure my router or anything? Also, say we have statically configured devices (with the 10.30.0x addresses) on the other side (the 10.30.0.x side), will I need to reconfigure those?
So all I need to do is configure the switch?
Pretty much just the 6248 switch, now if you have a router that is routing to the internet, you will need to add a static route to the new vlan, but this depends on how you have it currently configured.

Also, say we have statically configured devices (with the 10.30.0x addresses) on the other side (the 10.30.0.x side), will I need to reconfigure those?


You will need to configure the device on the ip scheme of the new vlan.
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Ok great! So, to whittle it down to simple steps:
First I setup the VLAN on the switch, then I add a static route on our sonicwall (TZ170 Enhanced, I think) to the physical address of the switch for the second VLAN. Then I configure the DHCP server to have an additional range for the VLAN. In this I'm a bit unclear as well, can I use the same DHCP server? What do set the gateway to on the second VLAN? I'm also still confused as to how to setup DHCP relay and IP Helpers... After I get this, all should work, right? Sorry for so many questions...
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Soulja
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As for the dhcp relay, you will need to look for that in your gui and enter the ip address of your dhcp server. DHCP request will then be forwarded to the server.
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Great! That's all the information I needed right now.