> I've only worked with other people who knew something about switches, but > from what I saw done, every port on every switch is configurable as to > what IP address and subnet it is in. If there are other switches with > unused ports, they can be reworked to be what you need them to be. If > your switch people are telling you otherwise, I would try talking to their > manager.
There does need to be some trunk path between the switches if you are to have ports in the same layer 2 VLAN on different switches. If there are policies about interconnection between switches or the only available switch is in a unsecured network, they may be telling the truth. There are an increasing number of companies that refuse to do inter-switch links (for mostly stupid auditing reasons, but there you are).
