Help with 802.1x and trunk for 5304xl w/ 2800's

[SomeITGuy]

Howdy. First I'd like to say I'm a programmer not a network guy so I apologize in advance should I say something nonsensical. With that said...

Hardware:
I've a 5304xl w/ two 16port Gig modules that I will be using as the backbone/core switch for my network. I then have one 2824 and two 2824's that I will be using for edge switches. All closets are well within 300ft of the 5304xl so I'll be using three runs of Cat6 per switch for trunks (LACP).

Setup:
There will be four static VLANs setup on each switch (servers, printers, users, guests). Routing between VLANs will be handled by the 5304xl (L3). Port authentication (802.1x w/ Radius) will be setup on the edge switch ports where the workstation drops will be patched to.

The questions:
- It looks like the trunks between the 2800's and the 5304xl will need be be tagged members of all VLANs. Any issue in doing VLAN trunking with on switch trunks?
- Network is a hub-spoke design (or star, whatever it's called now days). I'm planning on doing 3 LACP trunks from each switch to the core. Is there something else I should consider? Meshing perhaps?
- Port authentication (802.1x) will only be used on the edge switches (2800's). I'm assuming then config changes regarding 802.1x will only take place on the 2800's and I will not have to worry twiddle with the 5304xl correct?

Thanks for any help on this.

[Kell van Daal]

Hi,

For a programmer, you still make sense ;)

The answers:

- You will need to use static trunks instead of dynamic trunks. This is because you can't tag/untag dyn interfaces (which are auto created by LACP). The static trunks create trk interfaces, which can be tagged/untagged for different VLAN's. If you really want/need dynamic trunks, look at GVRP.

- In your design, trunks are sufficient. Meshing would only create advantages if there are redundant (non-trunk) connections between the switches. Meshing is an alternative for STP, not trunking.

- You are right about this statement. All 802.1X configuration need to be done on the 2800's (and the clients, and a RADIUS server as minimum).

Hope this helped.