Reference Guide

Table Of Contents
Configuring Native VLANs
Traditionally, ports can be either untagged for membership to one VLAN or tagged for membership to
multiple VLANs.
You must connect an untagged port to a VLAN-unaware station (one that does not understand VLAN
tags) and connect a tagged port to a VLAN-aware station (one that generates and understands VLAN
tags).
Native VLAN support breaks this barrier so that you can connect a port to both VLAN-aware and VLAN-
unaware stations. Such ports are referred to as hybrid ports. Physical and port-channel interfaces may be
hybrid ports.
Native VLAN is useful in deployments where a Layer 2 port can receive both tagged and untagged traffic
on the same physical port. The classic example is connecting a voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone and a PC to
the same port of the switch. The VoIP phone is configured to generate tagged packets (with VLAN =
VOICE VLAN) and the attached PC generates untagged packets.
NOTE: You cannot configure an existing switchport or port channel interface for Native VLAN.
Interfaces must have no other Layer 2 or Layer 3 configurations when using the portmode hybrid
command or a similar message displays: % Error: Port is in Layer-2 mode Gi 5/6.
To configure a port so that it can be a member of untagged and tagged VLANs, use the following
commands.
1. Remove any Layer 2 or Layer 3 configurations from the interface.
INTERFACE mode
2. Configure the interface for Hybrid mode.
INTERFACE mode
portmode hybrid
3. Configure the interface for Switchport mode.
INTERFACE mode
switchport
4. Add the interface to a tagged or untagged VLAN.
VLAN INTERFACE mode
[tagged | untagged]
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Virtual LANs (VLANs)