International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)

Volume 1 Issue10 pp 006-010 January 2013 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 - 0882

Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN)

1
Gyan Prakash Pal, 2Sadhana Pal
1,2
Faculty of Electronics & Communication Engineering Department,
1
SIT, Meerut, 2VGI, Greater Noida (India)

ABSTRACT
What happens if we need a virtual connection between
two stations belonging to two different physical LANs? Keywords: LAN, Switch, Port, VLAN, Membership,
A virtual local area network (VLAN) is defined as a ISL, IEEE 802.1Q, LAN, Router, Routing
local area network configured by software, not by
physical wiring. Virtual LANs (VLANs) have recently
I. INTRODUCTION
By default, switches break up collision domains and
developed into an integral feature of switched LAN routers break up broadcast domains.
solutions from every major LAN equipment vendor. One
of the reasons for the attention placed on VLAN By creating virtual local area network (VLAN),
functionality now is the rapid deployment of LAN broadcast domains break up in a pure switched
switching that began in 1994/1995. The shift toward internetwork. A VLAN is a logical group of network
LAN switching as a replacement for local/departmental users and resources connected administratively defined
routers—and now even shared media devices (hubs)— ports on a switch. When VLANS created, It will be the
ability to create smaller broadcast domains within a
will only accelerate in the future. With the rapid layer 2 switched internetworks by assigning different
decrease in Ethernet and Token Ring switch prices on a ports on the switch to different sub networks. A
per-port basis, many more ambitious organizations are VLAN is treated like its own subnet or broadcast
moving quickly toward networks featuring private port domain, meaning that frames broadcast onto the
(single user/port) LAN switching architectures. VLANs network are only switched between the ports logically
represent an alternative solution to routers for broadcast grouped within the same VLAN.
containment, since VLANs allow switches to also
By default, hosts in a specific VLAN cannot
contain broadcast traffic. With the implementation of communicate with hosts that are members of another
switches in conjunction with VLANs, each network VLAN, so for inter-VLAN communication router is
segment can contain as few as one user (approaching needed. Fig.1 shows layer 2 switched networks as flat
private port LAN switching), while broadcast domains networks. With this configuration, every broadcast
can be as large as 1,000 users or perhaps even more. packet is transmitted and observes by every device on
This paper present, in details, exactly what a VLAN is the network, whether the device is receiving that data
or not. PC 1 sending out a broadcast and all ports on
and how VLAN memberships are used in a switched
all switches forwarding it-all except the port that
network. originally received it.

Membership in a VLAN can be based on port members,

MAC addresses, IP addresses, IP multicast addresses
and/or a combination of these features. VLANs are cost
and time effective, can reduce network traffic, and
provide an extra measure of security.

IJSRET @ 2013
International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 1 Issue10 pp 006-010 January 2013 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 - 0882

VLANs simplify network management:

 Network adds, moves, and changes are
achieved with ease by just configuring a port
into the appropriate VLAN.
 A group of users that need high level of
security can be put into its own VLAN so that
users outside of the VLAN cannot
communicate with them.
 As a logical grouping of users by function,
VLANs can be considered independent from
their physical or geographic locations.
 VLANs greatly enhance network security.
 VLANs increase the number of broadcast
Figure (1) Flat network structure domains while decreasing their size.

Fig.2 shows a switched network. PC 1 sending a frame

to PC 6 as its destination. In this the frame is only
forwarded out the port where PC 6 is located. This is a
huge improvement over the old hub networks, unless
having one collision domain by default. Layer 2
switched networks creates individual collision domain
segments for each device plugged into each port on the
switch. Now large networks can be built.

Figure (3) A VLAN Network

II. VLAN MEMBERSHIPS

There are two types of VLAN memberships:
1. Static VLANs: Static VLANs are created by
network administrator, so these are more secure.
Any switch port have assigned to a VLAN will
Figure (2): Switched Network always maintain it unless one change the port
assign manually.
Another issue of networking is security, because in Static VLAN is easy to set up and any
layer 2 switched networks, all users can see all movement in the host required manually update.
devices. And it cannot be stopped from broadcasting, For a large network which required often more
and it cannot stop users from trying to respond to updates of VLAN are not possible statically, we
broadcasts. This means security options are dismally go to dynamic VLANs.
limited to placing passwords on servers and other
devices. Using VLANs many problems can solved 2. Dynamic VLANs: Dynamic VLAN assign
associated with layer 2 switching. VLANs automatically using software, based on
hardware address (MAC), protocols and

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 1 Issue10 pp 006-010 January 2013 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 - 0882

applications. For example, if MAC addresses ii. Trunk Ports: Trunk ports can carry multiple
have been entered into centralized VLAN VLANs at a time. A trunk link is 100 or 1000
management application software. If you Mbps point-to-point link between two switches,
attached it to an unassigned switch port, the between a switch and router, or even between a
VLAN management database can look up for the switch and server, and it carries the traffic of
hardware address and assign and configure the multiple VLANs from 1 to 4094 at a time. This
switch port into the correct VLAN. It is a tuff is a great feature because you can actually set
task to setup database at initial level. ports up to have a server in two separate
broadcast domains simultaneously so your users
III. IDENTIFYING VLANS won’t have to cross a layer 3 device (router) to
A switch port can belong to only one VLAN or all log in and access it. Another advantage is that,
VLANs. One VLAN, if it is an access port and all trunk links can carry various amounts of VLAN
VLANs, if it is a trunk port. One can manually configure information across the link, but by default, if the
a port as an access or trunk port. Let the Dynamic links between your switches are not trunked,
Trunking Protocol (DTP) operates on a per-port basis to only information from the configured VLAN
set the switch port mode. DTP does this by negotiating will be switched across that link.
with the port on the other end of the link.
There are two different types of links in the switched IV. VLAN IDENTIFICATION METHOD
network: VLAN identification is what switches use to keep track
of all those frames as they are traveling is a switched
i. Access Ports: An access port belongs to and network. It is how switches identify which frames
carries the traffic of only one VLAN. Traffic is belong to which VLANs and there’s more than one
both received and sent in native formats with no trunking method.
VLAN tagging. Anything arriving on an access
port is simply assumed to belong to the VLAN i. Inter-Switch Link (ISL): Inter-Switch Link
assigned to the port. Any device attached to an (ISL) is a way of tagging VLAN information
access link is unaware of a VLAN membership; onto an Ethernet frame. This tagging
the device just assumes its part of the same information allows VLANs to be multiplexed
broadcast domain. So it doesn’t understand the over a trunk through an external encapsulation
physical network topology. Access-link devices method (ISL), which allows the switch to
can’t communicate with devices outside their identify the VLAN membership of a frame over
VLAN unless the packet is routed. And you can the trunked link. By running ISL, you can
only create a switch port to be either an access interconnect multiple switches and still maintain
port or a trunk port, not both. So you have to VLAN information as traffic travels between
choose one or the other and know that if you switches on trunk links. ISL functions at layer 2
make it an access port, that port can be assigned by encapsulating a data frame with a new header
to one VLAN only. and cyclic redundancy check (CRC). It is used
for Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet links
Voice Access Port: Most switches allow to add a only. ISL routing is versatile and can be used on
second VLAN to an access port on a switch for a switch port, router interface and server
voice traffic, it is called the voice VLAN. The voice interface cards to trunk a server.
VLAN used to be called the auxiliary VLAN, which
allowed it to be overlaid on top of the data VLAN, ii. IEEE 802.1Q: Created by IEEE as a standard
enabling both types of traffic through the same port. method of frame tagging, IEEE 802.1Q inserts a
So this is an access port that can be configured for field into the frame to identify the VLAN. If you
both data and voice. VLANs. This allow to connect are trunking between a Cisco switched link and
both a phone and a PC device to one switch port but a different brand of switch, you’ve got to use
still have each device in a separate VLAN. 802.1Q for the trunk to work.

IJSRET @ 2013
 International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 1 Issue10 pp 006-010 January 2013 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 - 0882

The basic purpose of ISL and 802.1Q frame-tagging VLANs can be used to create virtual work groups. For
methods is to provide inter-switch VLAN example, in a campus environment, professors
communication. Also, remember that any ISL or working on the same project can send broadcast
802.1Q frame tagging is removed if a frame is messages to one another without the necessity of
forwarded out an access link; tagging is used across belonging to the same department. This can reduce
trunk links only. traffic if the multicasting capability of IP was
previously used.
V. ROUTING BETWEEN VLANS
Hosts in a VLAN create their own broadcast domain and iii. Security
can communicate freely. VLANs create network VLANs provide an extra measure of security. People
partitioning and traffic separation at layer 2 of the OSI, belonging to the same group can send broadcast
and if you want hosts or any other IP-addressable device message with the guaranteed assurance that users in
to communicate between VLANs, you need a layer 3 other groups will not receive these messages.
device. You can use a router that has an interface for
each VLAN or a router that supports ISL or 802.1Q VII. SUMMARY
routing. This paper introduces you to the world of virtual
LANs and described how Cisco switches can use
them. We talked about how VLANs break up
broadcast domains in a switched internetwork; a very
important, necessary thing because layer 2 switches
only break up collision domains and, by default, all
switches make up one large broadcast domain. I also
described access links to you and we went over how
trunked VLAN work across a Fast Ethernet link.

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 1 Issue10 pp 006-010 January 2013 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 - 0882

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