Hi thanks for the reply. It is for a small business environment but I have a blindspot on this side of things. I had only considered the option since the seller mentioned it would be a good idea to do such a thing, but didn't explain how. Certainly so far the firewall (primary and its secondary on a heartbeat connection) have their own connection to the "insecure" switch where the two internet connections (primary and backup) go and it is then the firewall appliances that provide the security before popping out on the "secured" network.
I suspect I have got the wrong idea of the VLAN concept and I have managed to configure everything else with the HP web site (ntp, snmp, upgrading flash and the like) but as I said, somethings just create a blind side (if you pardon the pun, it makes me smile though as i am partially sighted !).
I think I will go back to plan A and not do this fiendish VLAN stuff. Better to have separate bits I reckon. Easier too.
Many thanks ! Luoto