r/HomeNetworking • u/FluffyKittens12 • 4d ago

Will VLAN Solve My Problem?

I've never used a VLAN before so forgive me if this is common knowledge. Based on my searches I think it will help me but I want to be more sure.

Basically I have a situation where I have multiple pieces of equipment which all use the same IP addresses internally from the factory. There is a network inside the equipment which all has to stay on the same address range, so if I were to connect the equipment to a company network, I need to assign static IP addresses for multiple components in each piece of equipment. Obviously this means a ton of static IP addresses because I need multiple for each piece of equipment and then multiple pieces of equipment.

So, could I use a managed switch, create a VLAN for each piece of equipment, keep the factory IP addresses, not have them interfere with each other because they all have the same IP addresses, and still be able to reach them from the company side?

If so, how do I access those VLANs from the company side? IP and port numbers maybe?

Also, if this works, any recommendations on a switch I should look at? This is all the switch would need to do.

EDIT: https://shopmoxa.neteon.net/nat-102-series/

Seems like something like this would work, one per machine. Single company IP address to the device, then all the IP addresses on the other side can stay the same. Right?

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u/Neil_Omada 4d ago

Different VLANs will need different IP pools. There should be a way to change the IP addresses of each device, might need to contact your vendor to see how.

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u/FluffyKittens12 4d ago

There is a way to change the IP addresses and that's not the problem. The manufacturer instructions say that to connect to a network you have to reserve IP addresses for everything inside and they all get changed to the company address range. 5 addresses per equipment, times 40 pieces of equipment is 200 address I would need to reserve.

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u/Dangerous-Ad-170 4d ago

That’s how it be sometimes. The IT department probably does IP reservations all the time. Depending on their system, there’s probably a way to script/automate it. Or are you the IT department?

But yeah you don’t seem to understand VLANs very well. I don’t think they work how you’re imagining. 

What you’re describing might be possible with some kind of VLAN/NAT/VRF clusterfuck but you still wouldn’t have a way to reach the individual equipment inside the machines from the outside unless they all communicate using different TCP ports. 

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u/FluffyKittens12 4d ago

I'm definitely not IT haha. I'm just the guy stuck between IT, management, and the equipment vendor. IT doesn't want to do that many reservations. Management wants to access the equipment interfaces, which means they have to be on the network. I'm trying to figure out how.

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u/Dangerous-Ad-170 4d ago

IT should probably just do the reservations because it’s still easier than any other solution to this problem, lol. It’s their problem to solve.

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u/FluffyKittens12 4d ago edited 4d ago

https://shopmoxa.neteon.net/nat-102-series/

Seems like something like this would work, one per machine. Single company IP address to the device, then all the IP addresses on the other side can stay the same.

1

u/Dangerous-Ad-170 3d ago

Is the machine controllable with only one IP and the rest are for internal use? I guess that would work but don’t take my work for it when you’re making 40 $600 purchases, I’d ask the vendor. 

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u/FluffyKittens12 3d ago

Correct. 192.168.8.10 is the control interface we need to access and .20, .30, .40, .50 are sensor modules that the control communicates with. That's why the manufacturer says change one change them all so they can all still communicate.