IPv4 Subnetting for 1200 or more devices for WiFi

Question

I am currently looking over my schools existing Subnets and their usage. Some seem to be sufficent, others not so much.

What is the best practice when you need to support 1200 or more devices on a single SSID in terms of subnetting? While reading up on this, quite a few people do not recommend using anything larger than /23 subnets. I guess multiple subnets could be used? But if we setup peer to peer blocking then maybe broadcasts won't be too bad?

We are mainly using Chrome OS devices on the networks but all kinds of devices do exist from Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android etc.

I realize that there is probably not one simple answer that have all the pros and none of the cons but I really hope to find a solution that is balanced and good enough (even though I usually strive for perfection :P).

Thanks so much!

Best regards, Sebastian

Does this answer your question? How do you calculate the prefix, network, subnet, and host numbers? — rnxrx, Feb 09 '20 at 02:04
Thanks! Well. Not really but I appreciate your help nonetheless :) The answer below is more what I was looking for. — Sebastian Bergstroem, Feb 10 '20 at 04:01

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 08 '20 at 23:51

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Simple answer - /21. Why? Because WLC doesn't forward broadcast traffic so you don't have to worry about broadcasts. It's not like wired connection where Switch will propagate all broadcasts.

answered Feb 08 '20 at 23:51

kubn2

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Blocking p2p communication on your wireless controller greatly improves the performance and security of WiFi networks, at the cost of breaking wireless printers and some p2p applications. If you can get your printers on wired ports, this works very well. – Darrell Root Feb 09 '20 at 03:58

IPv4 Subnetting for 1200 or more devices for WiFi

1 Answers1