Trunk mode and Access mode

Hi Everyone,
Can any body explain me what is trunk mode and access mode i am reading cisco official book but its not mentioned very well there or i cant understand it well...any article or.......any explanation
Thanks

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bbarrick

I can give a basic explanation. Access mode would be used on a typical port where it's just connected to a host on the other end. Trunk would be when you have multiple VLAN's on a switch, you can use a port on a switch as trunk to forward that data to those VLAN's. This is my understanding, however take it with a grain of salt because I'm still studying all of this.

Vask3n

aljugan wrote: »

Hi Everyone,
Can any body explain me what is trunk mode and access mode i am reading cisco official book but its not mentioned very well there or i cant understand it well...any article or.......any explanation
Thanks

What? You are reading the official Cisco Press book and it doesn't explain it clearly? That is hard to believe, what book are you using?

If you are using ICND2 Cisco Press not only is it mentioned in there but its elaborated on for a few pages. Trunk and Access are modes that a switch port can take in regard to what kind of behavior the port is used for- is it used to connect to an end device, or is it used to connect to another switch so that you can carry VLAN traffic between the two switches? That is what you want to answer when determining which to use.

Edit: Trunks can connect switches to other switches or switches to routers so it is not just switch to switch links

JeanM

What they said.... trunk port on a switch can be used to connect to router when you use router on a stick type of configuration.

theodoxa

A Trunk is typically a link between 2 switches. though it can also be between a switch and a router, [and according to Lammle's book] between a switch and a server. A Trunk, unlike an access port which is assigned to a single vlan, can carry data from multiple VLANs. This means you can have let's say 4 VLANs on a switch, but do not have to connect a cable to the router [or another switch] for each VLAN, just one link for all the VLANs. Imagine if you had 100 VLANs on dozens of switches and you needed to route between them...a Trunk would allow you to aggregate them to a single Trunk link between each set of switches and a single Trunk to the router.

aljugan

thanks a lot for such a explaination