Did I connect these switches according to best practices?
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Recently, I did some IT closet clean up for a client of ours. They have a Meraki switch they were not utlizing (several ports available), an Edge switch lite (no poe capability), and an Adtran switch, which where most of their devices plugged into. And a Meraki router.
They also have 2 hypervisors, and another server used for BDR.
No vlans. All 1 subnet with no more than 100 devices on lan.
I removed the Edge switch since they were also migrating to Microsoft Voice, and getting new phones that would require poe. (this post is not to discuss Microsoft Voice).
I connected as much as I could to the meraki switch, starting with the servers. I then connected everything else to the Adtran switch. I connected the Adtran and Meraki switch together with 1 ethernet cable. And the Meraki switch I have 1 ethernet cable going into the Meraki Firewall.
Should have I instead, connected the Adtran switch to the router instead of the Meraki switch? What would be the best way to connect all these devices together?
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@fredtx Small place like this does not matter. You will not be overwhelming the switching backplane.
Generally you want Router -> Core Switch -> Peripheral Switches
Edit: more later.
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I assume that the Merakis are the PoE providers? Is everything the same speed?
Over time, personally, I'd move to replace all of this. Meraki immediately as they lose money basically from day one and you might as well fix that now. The Adtran is fine gear, but I'd not replace it. I'd probably put the EdgeSwitch at the core, remove the Adtran, hook things to the Meraki for PoE just until the upgrade arrives.
If it was my own network, I'd just invest in everything updated and matching now. But for customers, typically they'd keep the EdgeSwitch till it goes EOL.
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@scottalanmiller Yes, Meraki is the poe provider, including the Adtran. Yes, everything is the same speed via Gbps.
What do you mean by putting the Edgeswitch at the core?
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@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@scottalanmiller Yes, Meraki is the poe provider, including the Adtran. Yes, everything is the same speed via Gbps.
What do you mean by putting the Edgeswitch at the core?
Your "map" goes...
router---------core---------edge
The core switch connects to the router. The edge switches connect to the core switch. Your devices connect to the edge switches.
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@scottalanmiller said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@scottalanmiller Yes, Meraki is the poe provider, including the Adtran. Yes, everything is the same speed via Gbps.
What do you mean by putting the Edgeswitch at the core?
Your "map" goes...
router---------core---------edge
The core switch connects to the router. The edge switches connect to the core switch. Your devices connect to the edge switches.
This is how it's currently connected: Router------>Meraki SW------------>Adtran SW
Are you suggesting this? : Router---------->Edge SW-------->Meraki SW--------->Adtran SW
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@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@scottalanmiller said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@scottalanmiller Yes, Meraki is the poe provider, including the Adtran. Yes, everything is the same speed via Gbps.
What do you mean by putting the Edgeswitch at the core?
Your "map" goes...
router---------core---------edge
The core switch connects to the router. The edge switches connect to the core switch. Your devices connect to the edge switches.
This is how it's currently connected: Router------>Meraki SW------------>Adtran SW
Are you suggesting this? : Router---------->Edge SW-------->Meraki SW--------->Adtran SW
Is there a need for all the switches? I thought that you were reducing by one?
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@scottalanmiller said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@scottalanmiller said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@scottalanmiller Yes, Meraki is the poe provider, including the Adtran. Yes, everything is the same speed via Gbps.
What do you mean by putting the Edgeswitch at the core?
Your "map" goes...
router---------core---------edge
The core switch connects to the router. The edge switches connect to the core switch. Your devices connect to the edge switches.
This is how it's currently connected: Router------>Meraki SW------------>Adtran SW
Are you suggesting this? : Router---------->Edge SW-------->Meraki SW--------->Adtran SW
Is there a need for all the switches? I thought that you were reducing by one?
The onyl one he can reduce is the EdgeSwitch because it is not PoE. He cannot remove the Meraki as it provides the PoE.
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@scottalanmiller said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
Is there a need for all the switches? I thought that you were reducing by one?
The one I reduced was the EdgeSwitch Lite, because it didn't have POE capability.
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@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@scottalanmiller said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
Is there a need for all the switches? I thought that you were reducing by one?
The one I reduced was the EdgeSwitch Lite, because it didn't have POE capability.
Isn't the edge the newest piece of equipment?
Router ---- edge (for non Poe stuff) ---- meraki for everything else
The question that hasn't been asked is how many ports does the customer use? 100 devices, but those aren't all on the LAN over Ethernet, right?
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@jaredbusch said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@scottalanmiller said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@scottalanmiller said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
@scottalanmiller Yes, Meraki is the poe provider, including the Adtran. Yes, everything is the same speed via Gbps.
What do you mean by putting the Edgeswitch at the core?
Your "map" goes...
router---------core---------edge
The core switch connects to the router. The edge switches connect to the core switch. Your devices connect to the edge switches.
This is how it's currently connected: Router------>Meraki SW------------>Adtran SW
Are you suggesting this? : Router---------->Edge SW-------->Meraki SW--------->Adtran SW
Is there a need for all the switches? I thought that you were reducing by one?
The onyl one he can reduce is the EdgeSwitch because it is not PoE. He cannot remove the Meraki as it provides the PoE.
It's the AdTran that I was really wondering about.
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I assume some portion like 40-60% of the devices in this site are actually WiFi, and that the 100 devices is just a ballpark guess based on what's in place today.
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Is there an article or blog that I can read up on concerning best practices when connecting routers/switches/etc together? Maybe read what Cisco recommends?
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@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
Maybe read what Cisco recommends?
Haha, I would never trust stuff from Cisco. My experience with their engineers has been less than competent.
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Here's a good way to know if Cisco's advice can be trusted. Ask them if they would recommend Cisco equipment. They always say "yes", but the answer should nearly always be "no".
Half joking, but not really.
In general, though, remember IT advice should not come from vendors. Vendors are not in IT, nor do they do IT, nor are they your advisors. Their goals are very different from your goals. Not that everything that they say is wrong or bad, but it is not at all from the correct perspective. Cisco, and all other vendors, produce all documentation with one goal: sales. You have the opposite goal: minimize purchasing.
Great example: Microsoft always recommends AD (almost always) and two domain controllers. But for the majority of businesses, AD is a bad idea and for the majority of those with AD, only a single controller is best. Microsoft pretty consistently gives totally backwards advice because actual IT advice would minimize licensing to them and limit "lock in".
Now, in this example, there's nothing to ask Cisco. There's only a question of which of these essentially identical switches goes where. There's only one plausible configuration. So I'm not sure what question is even being asked, really.
One switch has to be the core, the others should hang off of it and not be daisy chained. Other than that incredibly basic bit of guidance, what else is there to ask? How else could you plug it in? Basically there is one right way, and one wrong way and nothing else. And the wrong way is pretty obviously wrong.
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@scottalanmiller said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
One switch has to be the core, the others should hang off of it and not be daisy chained.
Like this.
On the bottoms, cable modem.
Next up is the ER4. Singe Ethernet in from modem and single fiber up to the EdgeSwitch 12 Fiber, in this scenario, this is the core switch.From EdgeSwitch 12 Fiber, all other switches are directly connected except 1 that I was unable to get fiber to.
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Whether your interconnect is fiber or copper is not relevant to the discussion.
You have 1 switch that all other switches should be plugged in to. Period.
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@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
I connected as much as I could to the meraki switch, starting with the servers.
This is where you went south. Servers and printers are not PoE. You are wasting a ton of ports. Likely your backup NAS also.
You should have your Meraki router plugged in to the EdgeSwitch.
Then you should have all your servers and printers and non-PoE devices plugged in to the EdgeSwitch also. Leving enough ports open only for your other switches.
1 port should go from the EdgeSwitch to the Adtran swithc since you said:
@fredtx said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
an Adtran switch, which where most of their devices plugged into
At this point you should likely not need the Meraki.
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@jaredbusch said in Did I connect these switches according to best practices?:
all other switches are directly connected except 1 that I was unable to get fiber to.
I did splurge and use 2 ports to connect back to that other switch Because that other switch is an EdgeSwitch 24 Lite with the servers and NAS connected.
Most of that heavy traffic is local to the switch. but I at least have multiple links (in a LAG) in case something happens to one of the connections. If I had been able to have had fiber ran, I also would have had 2 run to the server rack.
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@jaredbusch Good stuff
