5 Ways to Tune Your Network with a LAN Switch

Effective switching is essential to handling growing network traffic

Need Speed? Here are 5 Ways to Tune Your Network with a LAN SwitchAny small or midsized business can use LAN switching to sustain the speeds and availability that users need. This presents five ways to do it, from experts at two Cisco Certified Partners that do it every day.1. Segment Your Network Logically, Using VLANs
A traditional flat network (which places all traffic in a single broadcast domain) can easily overload switch links. Instead, apply your switch's VLAN features to send traffic only where it needs to go, at the speed it needs to go.

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You can use a variety of Layer 2 and Layer 3 VLAN types to segment traffic. Many Cisco switches for small and midsized businesses offer all of the following types of VLANs:

Protocol, such as a VLAN dedicated to IP voice or video traffic

Devices, such as a VLAN for wireless clients, a server or printer, or all the equipment on a building floor

Port, such as a VLAN for a department or other group of users

Guest, MAC address, and unauthenticated traffic

Dynamic VLAN assignment that uses the end device's source MAC address to assign switch ports to VLANs

Multicast VLAN Registration (MVR), which organizes multicast traffic into a dedicated VLAN while maintaining the users' other VLANs. Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Snooping limits the traffic to the devices that need it.

2. Provide the Needed Capacity
Deploy the processing power and bandwidth that your segments, applications, and users need. To reduce latency, congestion, and collisions, apply switch capacity capabilities such as:

A fast engine: Nonblocking wire-speed silicon chips. Switches that forward traffic at wire speed sometimes cost more but can still make a difference in performance.

Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP). This standard feature increases available bandwidth by trunking ports.

Gigabit bandwidth on LAN ports and uplinks. It took a long time for links to go from 10/100 Mbps to 1 Gbps, but small and mid-sized businesses are now quickly moving to 10 Gbps, and soon it will be more. We recommend you review your infrastructure annually, and pace your CapEx by planning a five-year lifecycle.

Stack'em. If you can, stack your switches to increase throughput and have them operate as one device with a single IP address. The throughput of a stack of Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches can be up to 64 Gbps.

3. Apply Wire-Speed Routing Between VLANs
Inter-VLAN routing is necessary for any user or server that uses multiple VLANs.Use your switch, not your router software, to route inter-VLAN traffic. A switch's hardware can do the routing, at wire speed. And offloading the router allows it to better handle its WAN connectivity and firewall functions, improving overall network performance.Absolutely take advantage of both the static and dynamic IP routing capabilities in your switch.4. Prioritise Applications and Apply Traffic Shaping
Make the best use of your bandwidth by controlling access to it.You can use the following switch features to set performance parameters based on the traffic's importance and sensitivity to jitter and latency; also check to confirm that the connected devices support the feature:

Prioritise applications by 802.1p/q tag (a Layer 2 switching capability)

Prioritise applications by IP header (differentiated services code point (DSCP)/type of service (ToS), a Layer 3 switching capability).

Shape traffic to delay packets, using criteria such as bandwidth throttling or rate limiting.

5. Set Endpoint Parameters, Preferably Automatically
Set the switch's endpoint ports for optimal performance, using parameters such as storm control, number of devices allowed, quality of service (QoS), and VLANs.A switch with smart ports can detect new devices and use macros to configure many port parameters accordingly. Having automated QoS settings for IP phones and other devices really helps speed configuration, and you can always adjust the default settings.Cisco switches can also connect endpoints using the Cisco Discovery Protocol. It recognises Cisco devices and pulls the data relevant for optimal performance connections, fast problem solving, and efficient network management."Integrate Your Switching, Reduce Expenses
Applying these five tips--in combination with Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) or other monitoring and management tools as well as switch security features such as dynamic Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) inspection, IP Source Guard, and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Snooping to thwart attacks--can produce awesome network performance. And help your company save money.Move into the Fast Lane
When you need to speed up your network, Cisco Certified Partners can help you make adroit switching and infrastructure moves--including network assessment and design, solution financing and implementation, and onsite support and/or managed services.

Cisco Catalyst 3850 Switch