VLSM Determining Switch IP

Question

i was given a network 130.4.0.0/16 that i needed to use vlsm on. which i did and got these vaules:

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Address   | Mask| Assignable Range        | Broadcast 
130.4.0.0 | /22 | 130.4.0.1 - 130.4.3.254 | 130.4.3.255
130.4.4.0 | /24 | 130.4.4.1 - 130.4.4.254 | 130.4.4.255
130.4.5.0 | /26 | 130.4.5.1 - 130.4.5.62  | 130.4.5.63
130.4.5.64| /28 |130.4.5.65 - 130.4.5.78  | 130.4.5.79
130.4.5.80| /28 |130.4.5.81 - 130.4.5.94  | 130.4.5.95

The network consists of 3 switches and 1 router.

The router ip i just given the first usable after the last broadcast so: 130.4.5.95

So my question is how do i determine the ip address for the switches? can i just use any usable address in the subnet?

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Any guidance would be appreciated

Answer 1

If your switches are unmanaged, layer-2 switches, then the switches do not get IP addresses. If the switches need management addresses then they can be any valid host address on a network to which the switch is connected, the same way that the router interface address can be any valid host address for the network connected to which the router interface is connected. The switch management is really just another host on the network, and it is only used to manage the switch; it has nothing to do with the switching function. Switching happens at the data-link layer, but IP is at the network layer.

If you have multiple networks connected to the router, the router will need an address for each network to which the router is connected. The way traffic gets from one network to another network is through a router. If you only have one router, then it will need an interface in each network, and each interface will need an address in the network to which it is connected.