VLAN

A Virtual LAN (Local Area Network) is a logical subnetwork that can group together a collection of devices from different physical LANs. Larger business computer networks often set up VLANs to re-partition their network for improved traffic management.

Several different kinds of physical networks support virtual LANs including both Ethernet and Wi-Fi.

Benefits of a VLAN

When set up correctly, virtual LANs can improve the overall performance of busy networks.

VLANs are intended to group together client devices that communicate with each other most frequently. The traffic between devices split across two or more physical networks ordinarily needs to be handled by a network's core routers, but with a VLAN that traffic can be handled more efficiently by network switches instead.

VLANs also bring additional security benefits on larger networks by allowing greater control over which devices have local access to each other. Wi-Fi guest networks are often implemented using wireless access points that support VLANs.

Static and Dynamic VLANs

Network administrators often refer to static VLANs as “port-based VLANs.”  A static VLAN requires an administrator to assign individual ports on the network switch to a virtual network.  No matter what device plus into that port, it becomes a member of that same pre-assigned virtual network.

Dynamic VLAN configuration allows an administrator to define network membership according to characteristics of the devices themselves rather than their switch port location.

For example, a dynamic VLAN can be defined with a list of physical addresses (MACaddresses) or network account names.

VLAN Tagging and Standard VLANs

VLAN tags for Ethernet networks follow the IEEE 802.1Q industry standard. An 802.1Q tag consists of 32 bits (4 bytes) of data inserted into the Ethernet frame header.

The first 16 bits of this field contain the hardcoded number 0x8100 that triggers Ethernet devices to recognize the frame as belonging to a 802.1Q VLAN. The last 12 bits of this field contain the VLAN number, a number between 1 and 4094.

Best practices of VLAN administration define several standard types of virtual networks:

• Native LAN: Ethernet VLAN devices treat all untagged frames as belonging to the native LAN by default. The native LAN is VLAN 1, although administrators can change this default number.
• Management VLAN: Used to support remote connections from network administrators. Some networks use VLAN 1 as the management VLAN while others set up a special number just for this purpose (to avoid conflicting with other network traffic)

Setting up a VLAN

At a high level, network administrators set up new VLANs as follows:

1. Choose a valid VLAN number
2. Choose a private IP address range for devices on that VLAN to use
3. Configure the switch device with either static or dynamic settings.  Static configurations require the administrator to assign a VLAN number to each switch port while dynamic configurations require assigning a list of MAC addresses or user names to a VLAN number.
4. Configure routing between VLANs as needed. Configuring two or more VLANs to communicate with each other requires the use of either a VLAN-aware router or a Layer 3 switch.

The administrative tools and interfaces used vary greatly depending on the equipment involved.

How to Configure VLAN on Cisco Switch in Cisco

Packet Tracer? – VLAN configuration on the Cisco

Switch is used to separate physical network topologies into logical network topologies. When configured VLANs on a Cisco Switch, provides all the functions having in a physical environment.

 How to Configure VLAN on Cisco Switch in Cisco Packet Tracer?

How to Configure VLAN on Cisco Switch in Cisco Packet Tracer?

In a physical network environment, we can logically separate users in a specific location with VLANs. For example, they usually position accounting staff in the same location. Accounting staff only do computer work. By creating the Accounting VLAN on the Cisco Switch, we can aggregate users into this group.

In the real scenario, when we do this, users will not be enabled for this change. We can only restrict access to another VLAN group by creating VLAN based constraints. VLAN (Virtual LAN) configuration has multiple solutions.

Those people who want to improve themselves or to work for Cisco exams can use network simulator programs to test these processes on their own computers.

How to Create VLAN on Cisco Switch in Packet Tracer?

We can now pass how to configure VLAN on Cisco Switch in Cisco Packet Tracer.   

Step 1

For the Cisco Packet Tracer VLAN configuration and Cisco Switch VLAN creation, first, create the network topology.

Step 2

Click once on the Cisco switch and then on the CLI tab.

Step 3

You can view the following image for the Cisco

Switch VLAN creation commands in the Cisco Packet Tracer. To create a Cisco Switch VLAN, apply the following commands, respectively.

1	Switch# conf t
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11	Switch(config)# hostname SWITCH SWITCH(config)# vlan 10 SWITCH(config-vlan)# name VLAN10 SWITCH(config-vlan)# exit SWITCH(config)# vlan 20 SWITCH(config-vlan)# name VLAN20 SWITCH(config-vlan)# exit SWITCH(config)# vlan 30 SWITCH(config-vlan)# name VLAN30 SWITCH(config-vlan)# exit

We have completed the steps to create a VLAN on Cisco Switch in Packet Tracer. Now, according to our topology, we will assign the Cisco Switch interfaces, such as Fa0/1 you see in the image above, to the VLANs we created.