Specifications

VLANs
Rev. 9.41 Module 2 – 35
Need for VLANs on today's network
Today’s networks provide services for different types of users, such as employees,
partners, and visitors.
If all of these users are on the same subnet, security might be compromised. For
example, visitors might be able to view employees’ data as it is transmitted across
the network.
Diagram: Network without VLANs
In addition, if all users and network devices are part of the same subnet, network
performance may suffer.
Because the broadcast domain is large, broadcasts may be excessive and disrupt
hosts.
Most contemporary enterprises cannot be served adequately by an unsegmented,
flat network. Because broadcasts are forwarded to all hosts in flat networks, they
can be disrupted—or even disabled—by broadcast traffic and broadcast storms.
VLANs provide a technique for segmenting networks while maintaining the high
capacity and performance of the switched infrastructure.
For HP Internal Use Only