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5 VLAN Configuration
This chapter includes the following topics:
◆ IEEE 802.1Q VLANs – Configures static and dynamic VLANs.
◆ IEEE 802.1Q Tunneling – Configures QinQ tunneling to maintain customer-
specific VLAN and Layer 2 protocol configurations across a service provider
network, even when different customers use the same internal VLAN IDs.
IEEE 802.1Q VLANs
In large networks, routers are used to isolate broadcast traffic for each subnet into
separate domains. This switch provides a similar service at Layer 2 by using VLANs
to organize any group of network nodes into separate broadcast domains. VLANs
confine broadcast traffic to the originating group, and can eliminate broadcast
storms in large networks. This also provides a more secure and cleaner network
environment.
An IEEE 802.1Q VLAN is a group of ports that can be located anywhere in the
network, but communicate as though they belong to the same physical segment.
VLANs help to simplify network management by allowing you to move devices to a
new VLAN without having to change any physical connections. VLANs can be easily
organized to reflect departmental groups (such as Marketing or R&D), usage
groups (such as e-mail), or multicast groups (used for multimedia applications such
as video conferencing).
VLANs provide greater network efficiency by reducing broadcast traffic, and allow
you to make network changes without having to update IP addresses or IP subnets.
VLANs inherently provide a high level of network security since traffic must pass
through a configured Layer 3 link to reach a different VLAN.
This switch supports the following VLAN features:
◆ Up to 4094 VLANs based on the IEEE 802.1Q standard
◆ Distributed VLAN learning across multiple switches using explicit or implicit
tagging
◆ Port overlapping, allowing a port to participate in multiple VLANs
◆ End stations can belong to multiple VLANs