Specifications

5.7 VLAN Manager
5–12 Management Tools
VLAN Manager also enables you to configure more secure networks because each
VLAN is a separate broadcast domain that defines which devices and users receive
the broadcast packets.
5.7.1 VLAN Manager Benefits
VLAN Manager enables you to optimize performance, ensure proper levels of
security, and dynamically adapt to network changes.
• Performance: Since the broadcast and multicast traffic is firewalled within each
VLAN, the physical switched network can be continuously expanded to accom-
modate new users by adding new switches, without the danger of an entire
switched LAN becoming overwhelmed by excessive broadcast or multicast traf-
fic. This also significantly reduces the need for router firewalls presently used
for the same purpose, the routers being generally either slower or more expen-
sive than switches, and more difficult to manage than switches. In effect,
VLANs enable you to do more switching and less routing. However, when you
use VLANs, routing is required to implement inter-VLAN traffic for e-mail or
other purposes.
• Configuration Flexibility: Since VLANs are configured in the switches
remotely by the VLAN Manager software, the network configuration manage-
ment—which is necessary to accommodate user or user group physical moves
and changes—is more flexible and cost effective than grouping users into sub-
sets by physical location. With VLANs, no reconfiguration at user stations is
required to accommodate the moves. For example, users can be physically
moved to any place on a large, switched network and get immediate high-perfor-
mance access to any VLAN project groups simply by notifying the network
manager. This is not possible with hard-wired LANs.
• Flexible Access Control: With the network management system (NMS)
remotely controlling both the switch access ports and VLAN membership, dif-
ferent levels of secure access to the network can be provided and readily
changed by a combination of switch and NMS services.