Manage Vlans; Vlan Concepts; Port-Based Vlan Concepts - NETGEAR BR500 User Manual

Manage VLANs

The router supports virtual LANs (VLANs). This section describes how you can manage
them.

VLAN concepts

You can define a local area network (LAN) as a broadcast domain. Hubs, bridges,
switches, and WiFi access points in the same physical segment or segments connect
all end nodes. End nodes can communicate with each other without a router. Routers
connect LANs, routing the traffic to each appropriate port.
A virtual LAN (VLAN) is a local area network that maps devices on a basis other than
geographic location, for example, by department, type of user, or primary application.
Traffic that flows between different VLANs must go through a router, just as if the VLANs
were on two separate LANs.
A VLAN is a group of network devices (computers, servers, and other resources) that
behave as if they are connected to a single network segment, even though they might
not be. For example, the marketing personnel might be located throughout a building,
but if they are all assigned to a single VLAN, they can share resources and bandwidth
as if they are connected to the same segment. The resources of other departments can
be invisible to the marketing VLAN members, accessible to all, or accessible only to
specific individuals, depending on how you set up the VLAN.
VLANs provide a number of advantages:
• VLANs let you easily segment your network. You can group users who
communicate most frequently with each other in a common VLAN, regardless of
physical location. Each group's traffic is contained largely within the VLAN, reducing
extraneous traffic and improving the efficiency of the whole network.
• VLANS are easy to manage. You can quickly add or change network nodes and
make other network changes through the Insight mobile app or Cloud Portal.
• VLANs provide increased performance. VLANs free up bandwidth by limiting
node-to-node and broadcast traffic throughout the network.
• VLANs enhance network security. VLANs create virtual boundaries that can be
crossed only through a router. Therefore, you can use standard, router-based security
measures to restrict access to a VLAN.

Port-based VLAN concepts

The router supports port-based VLANs. Port-based VLANs help to confine broadcast
traffic to the LAN ports. Even though a LAN port can be a member of more than one
Manage the LAN and VLAN
Settings
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