Module 4: Inter-VLAN Routing

4.1 Inter-VLAN Routing

Operation

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Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
What is Inter-VLAN Routing?
VLANs are used to segment switched Layer 2 networks for a variety of reasons. Regardless of the
reason, hosts in one VLAN cannot communicate with hosts in another VLAN unless there is a router or
a Layer 3 switch to provide routing services.

Inter-VLAN routing is the process of forwarding network traffic from one VLAN to another VLAN.

There are three inter-VLAN routing options:

• Legacy Inter-VLAN routing - This is a legacy solution. It does not scale well.
• Router-on-a-Stick - This is an acceptable solution for a small to medium-sized network.
• Layer 3 switch using switched virtual interfaces (SVIs) - This is the most scalable solution for
medium to large organizations.

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Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
Legacy Inter-VLAN Routing
• The first inter-VLAN routing solution relied on using a router with multiple Ethernet interfaces. Each
router interface was connected to a switch port in different VLANs. The router interfaces served as
the default gateways to the local hosts on the VLAN subnet.
• Legacy inter-VLAN routing using physical interfaces works, but it has a significant limitation. It is
not reasonably scalable because routers have a limited number of physical interfaces. Requiring
one physical router interface per VLAN quickly exhausts the physical interface capacity of a router.
• Note: This method of inter-VLAN routing is no longer implemented in switched networks and is
included for explanation purposes only.

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Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
The ‘router-on-a-stick’ inter-VLAN routing method overcomes the limitation of the legacy inter-VLAN routing
method. It only requires one physical Ethernet interface to route traffic between multiple VLANs on a
network.
• A Cisco IOS router Ethernet interface is configured as an 802.1Q trunk and connected to a trunk port on
a Layer 2 switch. Specifically, the router interface is configured using subinterfaces to identify routable
VLANs.
• The configured subinterfaces are software-based virtual interfaces. Each is associated with a single
physical Ethernet interface. Subinterfaces are configured in software on a router. Each subinterface is
independently configured with an IP address and VLAN assignment. Subinterfaces are configured for
different subnets that correspond to their VLAN assignment. This facilitates logical routing.
• When VLAN-tagged traffic enters the router interface, it is forwarded to the VLAN subinterface. After a
routing decision is made based on the destination IP network address, the router determines the exit
interface for the traffic. If the exit interface is configured as an 802.1q subinterface, the data frames are
VLAN-tagged with the new VLAN and sent back out the physical interface
Note: The router-on-a-stick method of inter-VLAN routing does not scale beyond 50 VLANs.

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Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
Inter-VLAN Routing on a Layer 3 Switch
The modern method of performing inter-VLAN routing is to use Layer 3 switches and switched virtual
interfaces (SVI). An SVI is a virtual interface that is configured on a Layer 3 switch, as shown in the
figure.

Note: A Layer 3 switch is also called a multilayer switch as it operates at Layer 2 and Layer 3.
However, in this course we use the term Layer 3 switch.

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Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
Inter-VLAN Routing on a Layer 3 Switch (Cont.)
Inter-VLAN SVIs are created the same way that the management VLAN interface is configured. The
SVI is created for a VLAN that exists on the switch. Although virtual, the SVI performs the same
functions for the VLAN as a router interface would. Specifically, it provides Layer 3 processing for
packets that are sent to or from all switch ports associated with that VLAN.

The following are advantages of using Layer 3 switches for inter-VLAN routing:
• They are much faster than router-on-a-stick because everything is hardware switched and routed.
• There is no need for external links from the switch to the router for routing.
• They are not limited to one link because Layer 2 EtherChannels can be used as trunk links
between the switches to increase bandwidth.
• Latency is much lower because data does not need to leave the switch in order to be routed to a
different network.
• They more commonly deployed in a campus LAN than routers.
• The only disadvantage is that Layer 3 switches are more expensive.

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4.2 Router-on-a-Stick Inter-
VLAN Routing

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
Router-on-a-Stick Scenario
• In the figure, the R1 GigabitEthernet 0/0/1 interface is
connected to the S1 FastEthernet 0/5 port. The S1
FastEthernet 0/1 port is connected to the S2 FastEthernet
0/1 port. These are trunk links that are required to forward
traffic within and between VLANs.
• To route between VLANs, the R1 GigabitEthernet 0/0/1
interface is logically divided into three subinterfaces, as
shown in the table. The table also shows the three VLANs
that will be configured on the switches.
• Assume that R1, S1, and S2 have initial basic
configurations. Currently, PC1 and PC2 cannot ping each
other because they are on separate networks. Only S1 and
S2 can ping each other, but they are unreachable by PC1 or Subinterface VLAN IP Address
PC2 because they are also on different networks.
G0/0/1.10 10 192.168.10.1/24
• To enable devices to ping each other, the switches must be
configured with VLANs and trunking, and the router must be G0/0/1.20 20 192.168.20.1/24
configured for inter-VLAN routing.
G0/0/1.30 99 192.168.99.1/24
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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
S1 VLAN and Trunking Configuration
Complete the following steps to configure S1 with VLANs and trunking:
• Step 1. Create and name the VLANs.
• Step 2. Create the management interface.
• Step 3. Configure access ports.
• Step 4. Configure trunking ports.

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
S2 VLAN and Trunking Configuration
The configuration for S2
is similar to S1.

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
R1 Subinterface Configuration
The router-on-a-stick method requires you to create a subinterface for each VLAN to be routed.
A subinterface is created using the interface interface_id subinterface_id global configuration
mode command. The subinterface syntax is the physical interface followed by a period and a
subinterface number. Although not required, it is customary to match the subinterface number
with the VLAN number.
Each subinterface is then configured with the following two commands:
• encapsulation dot1q vlan_id [native] - This command configures the subinterface to
respond to 802.1Q encapsulated traffic from the specified vlan-id. The native keyword
option is only appended to set the native VLAN to something other than VLAN 1.
• ip address ip-address subnet-mask - This command configures the IPv4 address of the
subinterface. This address typically serves as the default gateway for the identified VLAN.
Repeat the process for each VLAN to be routed. Each router subinterface must be assigned an
IP address on a unique subnet for routing to occur. When all subinterfaces have been created,
enable the physical interface using the no shutdown interface configuration command. If the
physical interface is disabled, all subinterfaces are disabled.

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
R1 Subinterface Configuration (Cont.)
In the configuration, the R1
G0/0/1 subinterfaces are
configured for VLANs 10, 20,
and 99.

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
Verify Connectivity Between PC1 and PC2
The router-on-a-stick configuration is complete
after the switch trunk and the router
subinterfaces have been configured. The
configuration can be verified from the hosts,
router, and switch.

From a host, verify connectivity to a host in

another VLAN using the ping command. It is a
good idea to first verify the current host IP
configuration using the ipconfig Windows host
command.

Next, use ping to verify connectivity with PC1

and S1, as shown in the figure.
The ping output successfully confirms inter-
VLAN routing is operating.

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing Verification
In addition to using ping between devices, the following show commands can
be used to verify and troubleshoot the router-on-a-stick configuration.
• show ip route
• show ip interface brief
• show interfaces
• show interfaces trunk

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