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We've been thinking through re-arranging the end-user network and VLAN configuration. We're currently doing things in a way that isn't quite typical, but given that it is working, we're hesitant to try things a different way.

Our primary goal is limiting broadcast traffic, so we need to separate them into VLANs based on something. If we wanted to, we could probably do it based on the last character of the device's MAC address... or the registered user's birthdate... or a random number generator... or even put them all on their own VLANs.

Obviously broadcast traffic would be shared differently, but what would be the practical downsides of grouping VLANs strangely for our end-users? Or would they even notice?

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Moduspwnens
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So long as your DHCP servers can keep up, the end-users shouldn't notice much. There are very few broadcast-only protocols around these days, one of which is still Windows Machine Browsing; and if you really need that, WINS was designed with you in mind. Unless you have other broadcast-dependent protocols out and about, your users shouldn't notice.

Your techs, on the other hand...

sysadmin1138
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  • Our techs like it the way it is now, and the only notable protocol I feel like the users miss is Bonjour. In our case, the Windows machines are all on the same VLAN, so Windows Machine Browsing wouldn't even matter. If Bonjour is all that we're missing, it's probably not worth bothering with. – Moduspwnens Jun 10 '11 at 22:53