Sayed Hamza Jillani

VLANs
&
Trunks

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Overview
• A full layer 2 only switched network is referred to as a single broadcast
domain, so network must be subdivided into VLANs
• By definition a VLAN is a single broadcast domain, VLAN is
characterised by:
-They can allow load balancing with multiple parallel paths, so enhancing
bandwidth utilization
-They enhance network security
-They confine broadcasts, so introducing better broadcast control
-They can span multiple switches (no physical boundaries), VLAN can group
users based on their business requirements (business departments)
independent of any physical locations

• Segmentation

• Flexibility

• Security

A VLAN = A Broadcast Domain = Logical Network (Subnet)

But using VLANs will cause the following:

- It will not simplify the network.
- It will not eliminate the need of L3 routing
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Deploying VLANs

• The number of VLANS will be dependent on network requirement

• Cisco recommend the VLAN-IP relation to be one- to-one in order of
isolating VLANs broadcasts & ability to form inter-VLAN-routing
• VLANs could be implemented using two basic methods
1) Local VLANs
2) End to End VLAN

1)Local VLAN

• It is called geographic VLANs, keeping the VLAN within a switch block

• Local VLANs are created based on geographic or physical locations
• Also Local VLANs design obey 20/80 rule

• Here are some local VLAN characteristics and user guidelines:

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- Local VLANs should be created with physical boundaries in mind rather
than the job functions of the users on the end devices.
- Traffic from a local VLAN is routed to reach destinations on other networks.
- A single VLAN does not extend beyond the Building Distribution submodule.

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2)End to End VLAN

• It is called Campus-wide VLAN

• Users are assigned to VLANs regardless of their physical location, they
are designed regarding their function (same VLAN are distributed on
among different switch blocks)
• End to end VLAN disobey the 80/20 rule, where all traffic within a
single VLAN could cross the core obeying 20/80 rule
• But end to end VLAN could help extending broadcast storms & it is
difficult to maintain troubleshooting
• End to end VLAN deployment is not recommended by Cisco.

• An end-to-end VLAN has these characteristics:

- The VLAN is geographically dispersed throughout the network.
- Users are grouped into the VLAN regardless of physical location.
- As a user moves throughout a campus, the VLAN membership of that
user remains the same.
- Users are typically associated with a given VLAN for network
management reasons.
- All devices on a given VLAN typically have addresses on the same IP
subnet.

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VLAN membership

1) Static VLAN membership

―Port based VLAN―
VLAN number is assigned to specific switch port, each port gets a PVID (Port
VLAN ID)
2)Dynamic VLAN membership
"MAC based VLAN"
When a host is connected to a switch port, the switch must query a database to
establish VLAN membership, so as to assign a MAC address of a user to a
certain VLAN, a network administrator must assign the users MAC addresses to
a VLAN in the database of VMPS (VLAN Membership Policy Server), which
could be catalyst 6500/5000 or external server.

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Types of Switch ports

• Access-Link:
-Switch port that is member in only one VLAN (native VLAN by
default)
-This port actually connect a switch to host
• Trunk-Link:
-Switch port that is member in all VLANs by default, so traffic from
all VLANs can use a trunk link
-It is mainly used to connect two switches together or switch and a
router

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Configuring VLANs
To configure VLANs there are three requirements:
1 Create VLAN
2 Optionally name the VLAN
3 Activate VLAN (assign VLAN to switchport)
Method 1
#configure terminal
(config)#vlan <id>
(config-vlan)#name <vlan name>
Switch#configure terminal Deleting VLAN
Switch(config)#vlan 3 Switch#configure terminal
Switch(config-vlan)#name sales Switch(config)#no vlan 3
Switch(config-vlan)#exit Switch(config)#end
Switch(config)#

Method 2: old IOS methods

Alternatively, VLANs can be created and managed using VLAN database mode.
#vlan database
(vlan)# vlan vlan# [name vlan-name]
(vlan)#apply ,or (vlan)#exit
Deleting VLAN
sw_2950#vlan database Switch#vlan database
sw_2950(vlan)#vlan 9 name sales Switch(vlan)#no vlan 3
sw_2950(vlan)#exit VLAN 3 deleted:
APPLY completed. Switch(vlan)#exit
Exiting.... APPLY completed.
sw_2950# Exiting....
VLAN database mode is session oriented. When you add, delete, or modify VLAN
parameters, the changes are not applied until you enter the apply or exit command.
You can also exit VLAN database mode without applying the changes by entering
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the abort command.
From this mode, you can add, delete, and modify VLAN configurations for VLANs
in the range 1 to 1005.
Note: This mode has been deprecated and will be removed in some future release.

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To activate a VLAN
(config)#interface
(config-if)#switchort mode access
(config-if)#switchport access vlan <vlan id>

(config)#interface Fastethernet 0/3

(config-if)#switchort mode access
(config-if)#switchport access vlan 52

Troubleshooting VLANs:
Switch#show vlan [id | name] [vlan_num | vlan_name]

#show vlan
VLAN Name Status Ports

-
1 default active Fa0/1, Fa0/2, Fa0/5, Fa0/7
Fa0/8, Fa0/9, Fa0/11, Fa0/12
Gi0/1, Gi0/2
2 VLAN0002 active
52 Sales active Fa0/3
…
1 enet 100001 1500 - - - - - 1002 1003
2 enet 100002 1500 - - - - - 0 0
VLAN
52 Type
enet SAID
100052 MTU
1500 Parent
- RingNo
- BridgeNo
- Stp
- BrdgMode
- Trans1
0 Trans2
0
…

#show vlan brief

VLAN Name Status Ports

1 default active Fa0/1, Fa0/2, Fa0/5, Fa0/7

Fa0/8, Fa0/9, Fa0/11, Fa0/12
50 Gi0/1, Gi0/2

2 VLAN0002 active

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52 Sales active Fa0/3

1002 fddi-default active

1003 token-ring-default active
1004 fddinet-default active
1005 trnet-default active

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VLAN Trunks
• To connect switch port to another switch port or a router while
deploying VLANs we need a method for VLAN Inter-switch
communication where a VLAN can span multiple switches
• VLAN trunks will help for communication between same
VLAN members that exist on different physical switches

Without trunking

With trunking

VLAN frame identifier

• Each frame originated from a PC and received on a switch port must have a
VLAN id before retransmitted on a trunk link, this is called trunk VLAN
tagging, this must be done to assure VLAN inter-switch communication.
• VLAN tagging types:
1 ISL (Inter Switch Link) for Ethernet
2 IEEE 802.1q (dot1q) for Ethernet
3 Cisco extension for 802.10 for FDDI
4 LANE (LAN Emulation) for ATM

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• Cisco implements VLAN tagging

using ASICs.

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1)ISL
• It a Cisco proprietary VLAN tagging protocol,
but it is no longer supported by
Cisco new edge switches
• It is also called double tagging, because
it encapsulates the original frame with
new header (ISL header 26byte) &
new trailer (ISL trailer 4byte new CRC)
• The ISL header contains a 10 bit for VLAN id,
which support VLANs from 0-1023,
where used VLANs are 1-1005
• Ethernet can use 1-1001 and 1002-1005 are reserved for token ring & FDDI

Standard NIC cards and networking devices don’t

understand this giant frame. A Cisco switch must remove this
encapsulation before sending the frame out on an access
link.

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• ISL is now supported only on core switches, but Cisco Catalyst 2950 &
2960 access switches support only dot1q.

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2)dot1q
• It is called single tagging, where 4 byte of dot1q tag is inserted
after the source MAC of the frame and before the length field of
the frame
• The 4 bytes specify the following:

2-byte TPID (Tag Protocol Identifier)

2-byte TCI Tag Control Info (includes VLAN ID)

- 2 bytes for indication of type of encapsulated data

- 12 bit for VLAN tag, which give VLAN ranges from 0-4095,
where 0,1,1002-1005 & 4095 are reserved.
- 3 bits COS (Class Of Service), which indicates the priority of the
frame, they are called the 802.1q/802.1p bits
- 1 bit for CFI (Canonical Frame Indicator), flag which indicates
whether the frame is Ethernet or Token ring & FDDI
VLAN Ranges and Mappings

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VLAN Range Range Usage

0, 4095 Reserved For system use only

1 Normal Cisco default

2-1001 Normal For Ethernet VLANs

Cisco defaults for FDDI and

1002-1005 Normal
Token Ring

1025-4094 Extended For Ethernet VLANs only

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• Dot1q also introduced the concept of native VLAN on a trunk,
where frames belonging to this VLAN are not tagged with any
VLAN id, using this feature 802.1q tagging device & non-
802.1q devices can co-exist on a 802.1q trunk.
• Native VLAN is by default VLAN 1, which is also called the
management VLAN (management VLAN is the VLAN that
carries frames from all protocols (CDP, VTP, DTP,….)), the
native VLAN can be changed by configuration.

• IEEE 802.3ac standard is used to extended MTU of Ethernet

frame to 1522 byte
NIC cards and networking devices can understand this
“baby giant” frame (1522 bytes). However, a Cisco
switch must remove this encapsulation before sending
the frame out on an access link.

DTP
(Dynamic Trunk Protocol)
• Cisco proprietary protocol, that is used to automatically negotiate a
common trunking mode (negotiate whether link will be access or trunk)
between two switches, also negotiation of trunk encapsulation type can be
done, DTP negotiation is made periodically every 30 sec.
• A router can not participate in DTP, so if a switch port is connected to a
router, DTP must be disabled & switch port must be manually configured.
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• Note: DTP is negotiated between switches working in the same VTP
domain or if one of these domains is null domain, so if switches are in
different domains, you must set trunk configuration to "on" or
"nonegotiate", this setting will force the trunk to be established.

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• DTP modes:
Sayed Hamza Jillani
Mode

Function

Unconditionally sets a switch port to access mode,

regardless of other DTP functions
Sets the switch port to unconditional trunking mode
and negotiates to become a trunk link, regardless of
neighbor interface mode

Specifies that DTP negotiation packets are not sent on

the Layer 2 interface
Sets the switch port to actively send and respond
to DTP negotiation frames. Default for Ethernet

Sets the switch port to respond but not to actively

send DTP negotiation frames

Configuring trunking
(config)#interface <_>
(config-if)#switchport mode {access/trunk/dynamic desirable/dynamic
auto/nonegotiate}
-access: only in one VLAN, no negotiation (no DTP messages).
-trunk: permanently trunk & generate DTP messages.
-dynamic desirable: (default), actively (sending messages) attempts to be
trunk.
-dynamic auto: only if far end desire a trunk, it will turn to trunk which
means it is passively (does not initiate messages) attempts to be trunk.
-nonegotiate: disables DTP & force permanent trunk.

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(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation {isl/dot1q/negotiate}

default is negotiate, ISL is favoured if both exist on negotiating switches.

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Switchport Mode Interactions

To identify native VLAN

(config-if)#switchport trunk native vlan <vlan id>
default is VLAN 1, this is used only with dot1q & trunking mode
• To specify allowed VLANs on trunk:
(config-if)#switchport trunk allowed vlan {<vlan list> / all /
{add/except/remove} <vlan list> }

Add: add VLAN list to an existing pre-configured list

Except: means, all except a certain VLAN list
Remove: remove VLANs from existing VLAN list

By default all VLANs exist ion the trunk link.

Trunking configuration example:

Switch(config)#interface fastethernet 5/8

Switch(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
Switch(config-if)#switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,15,11,1002-1005
Switch(config-if)#switchport
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Switch(config-if)#no shutdown
 Sayed Hamza Jillani

Troubleshooting
#sh dtp
#sh interface <_> trunk

#sh interface <_> switchport

#sh interface <_> capabilities
#sh run interface <_>
#sh vlan
#sh vlan brief
Switch#show interfaces fastethernet 2/1 trunk

Port Mode Encapsulation Status Native VLAN

Port
Fa2/1 VLANs allowed
desirable on trunk
isl trunking 1
Fa2/1 1-1005

Port VLANs allowed and active in management domain

Fa2/1 1-2,1002-1005

Port VLANs in spanning tree forwarding state and not pruned

Fa2/1 1-2,1002-1005

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Switch#show interfaces gigabitEthernet 0/1 switchport

Name: Gi0/1
Switchport: Enabled
Administrative Mode: trunk
Operational Mode: trunk
Administrative Trunking Encapsulation: dot1q
Operational Trunking Encapsulation: dot1q
Negotiation of Trunking: On
Access Mode VLAN: 1 (default)
Trunking Native Mode VLAN: 1 (default)
Trunking VLANs Enabled: ALL
Pruning VLANs Enabled: 2-1001

. . .

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Troubleshooting VLAN Issues

Configuration problems can arise when user traffic must traverse several
switches. The following sections list some common configuration errors.
But before you begin troubleshooting, create a plan. Check the
implementation plan for any changes recently made, and determine likely
problem areas.

Troubleshooting User Connectivity

User connectivity can be affected by several things:
- Physical connectivity: Make sure the cable, network adapter, and switch
port are good. Check the port’s link LED.
- Switch configuration: If you see FCS errors or late collisions, suspect a
duplex mismatch. Check configured speed on both sides of the link. Make
sure the port is enabled and set as an access port.
- VLAN configuration: Make sure the hosts are in the correct VLAN.
- Allowed VLANs: Make sure that the user VLAN is allowed on all
appropriate trunk links.

Troubleshooting Trunking
When troubleshooting trunking, make sure that physical layer connectivity is
present before moving on to search for configuration problems such as
- Are both sides of the link in the correct trunking mode?
- Is the same trunk encapsulation on both sides?
- If 802.1Q, is the same native VLAN on both sides? Look for CDP messages
warning of this error.
- Are the same VLANs permitted on both sides?
- Is a link trunking that should not be?

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