Quick VLan Question Be Gentle :-)

goldenlight

IS the VLan the interface port that brings the internet into the Switch??


I read the definition but still a little confuse. Hopefully I will figure it out as I read on. I plan on starting routing and Routing basics next week.

Do most Switches have 1 VLAN ?

networker050184

I'll try to be gentle...

You are way off. You seriously need to do some reading on the subject. A VLAN is not physical, its logical.

MAC_Addy

I agree with Networker on this one. You really need to hit the books on this one my friend.

cyberguypr

Hint: the V in VLAN means "virtual."

MrBrian

You can configure switch ports to be in various Vlan's.. that way when you connect your PC or other end devices to those switchports, they will "live" in those Vlan's, or be apart of them. Those PC's broadcast traffic will go into the switch, and the switch will recognize that it came in on that Vlan, and will only forward that traffic out other ports that it has configured in that same Vlan. Then, you can create in "interface Vlan" aka "SVI (switched virtual interface)," which is a logical interface, i.e. you won't see it by looking at the switch. This interface will be reachable by those devices that are apart of that Vlan. For example, you can put an IP on interface Vlan 1, and then other devices within that Vlan can telnet into the switch.

In addition, if you have a Layer 3 swith, or multilayer switch, you can multiple Vlan interfaces, and then the switch can actually route between them. This cannot be done by a simple Layer 2 switch.

Common platforms you'll see are.. Layer 2 switches: 2950/2960, and Layer 3 switches: 3550/3560.

goldenlight

thanks! Didn't get to VLans yets but saw the word mention once in a lab and once in the Ethernet Chapter of Network Fundalmentals.

payed more attention to the word vlan when I was asked to configure the Vlan interface

jukem

^^right on the money! Vlans can essentially turn 1 switch into multiple switches(in the same box). By default all ports on a switch are assigned to vlan 1, but an engineer can configure mutliple vlans to keep broadcast domains to a manageable size.