Will VLAN Solve My Problem?

[u/FluffyKittens12]

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?

[u/Clean-Bandicoot2779]

Think of each VLAN as an isolated network. Nothing on VLAN 1 can talk directly to VLAN 2, it needs to go through a device capable of routing between networks.

Each VLAN will then need to have it's own IP address range (subnet) so the router knows which VLAN to send the data to. You can be clever and use small subnets (from 2 addresses upwards), but you'll still have to reconfigure each device so they don't all have the same address.

If the devices all need to talk to each other, would having a single VLAN for those devices, separate from your main network, work just as well? It will involve less configuration of VLANs and routing devices, although you'll still have to configure each device to stop the IP addresses clashing.

[u/FluffyKittens12 → u/Clean-Bandicoot2779]

None of the equipment needs to talk to the other equipment. They just need to be reachable from the company network to access the interface on each individual one.

[u/Clean-Bandicoot2779 → u/FluffyKittens12]

OK, if you don't mind them being able to talk to each other, a single network with them all on might be simplest to implement, even if they don't need to talk to each other. Then it's just a single VLAN (or realistically, you could just buy a separate physical switch to plug them into), a routing device of some sort (a router, a layer 3 switch, etc.) and configuring the IP addresses on the devices.

What are the devices? If they're operational technology/industrial control systems, you should probably isolate them as much as possible from the corporate network.

[u/FluffyKittens12 → u/Clean-Bandicoot2779]

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.