Sunday, September 16, 2018

A unique VLAN issue with two fiber-connected sites.

Hey guys. Hope you might be able to help me out with this sort of...unique situation.

We have two facilities. I'm trying to set up some VLANs, but there's a catch: we have a fiber connection between the two buildings that is causing some problems. Let me give you an outline of our layout.

Internet comes in from ISP to a Cisco RVS4000 router/switch, plugged into WAN. Port one has a cable connecting to the main switch (Cisco) of Facility 1 (F1), which has a DHCP server running Windows Server 2008 (unfortunately. I have a new server to setup when I'm done with this project to fix that). Port three has a cat cable connected to a fiber converter going to single mode fiber running to Facility 2 (F2) about 10 miles away. (That connection is working flawlessly. I can plug into the main switch and be on the same IP range and domain as though it's just a long cat cable, because essentially it is.) At that facility, it's plugged into port 8 of a Netgear (I know) GS510TLP and running to a TP-Link (I know) T1600G-52PS. Port 2 on the Netgear is going to a TP-Link T2600G-28MPS for VoIP and port 3 is going to a T2600-28MPS for cameras.

I created some DHCP scopes and VLANs (VLAN 2 and 3) between all this mess and got it sort of working. By sort of, I mean I can plug into the switch at F1, and VLAN3 will give me a DHCP address from the server. VLAN2 will not. In order to do so, I had to use two other NICs in the DHCP server on the ranges (4.x and 5.x) I'm needing for those VLANs.

At F2, I can't plug into either switch and get a DHCP address. I can manually assign an address and it will work as intended, however that won't work for my VoIP.

I'm thinking about using the VoIP switch as a router to hand out addresses on the range I need. Not ideal, but it doesn't necessarily HAVE to get an address from Windows. The cameras will be static, so that's the least of my concern.

Basically, I'd like to know if there's anything I'm over looking (I know, there are a TON of settings that I could detail, but I hate to clutter up this post any more than I already have) or anything I can check to make this work like I need it to work. OR if there are any suggestions on what equipment I can purchase to make this work. Or alternate setups. Just any help you guys can give me, I'll be super appreciative for. Thank you!



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