Chapter 8: Virtual Lans; Overview Of Virtual Lans; Benefits - Extreme Networks ExtremeWare XOS Guide Manual

8 Virtual LANs
This chapter covers the following topics:
Overview of Virtual LANs on page 151
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Types of VLANs on page 152
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VLAN Names on page 159
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Configuring VLANs on the Switch on page 160
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Displaying VLAN Settings on page 162
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Tunneling (VMANs) on page 163
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Setting up Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) on the switch eases many time-consuming tasks of
network administration while increasing efficiency in network operations.

Overview of Virtual LANs

The term VLAN is used to refer to a collection of devices that communicate as if they were on the same
physical LAN. Any set of ports (including all ports on the switch) is considered a VLAN. LAN
segments are not restricted by the hardware that physically connects them. The segments are defined by
flexible user groups that you create with the command line interface (CLI).

Benefits

NOTE
The system switches traffic within each VLAN using the Ethernet MAC address. The system routes traffic between
two VLANs using the IP addresses.
Implementing VLANs on your networks has the following advantages:
VLANs help to control traffic—With traditional networks, broadcast traffic that is directed to all
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network devices, regardless of whether they require it, causes congestion. VLANs increase the
efficiency of your network because each VLAN can be set up to contain only those devices that must
communicate with each other.
VLANs provide extra security—Devices within each VLAN can communicate only with member
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devices in the same VLAN. If a device in VLAN Marketing must communicate with devices in VLAN
Sales, the traffic must cross a routing device.
VLANs ease the change and movement of devices—With traditional networks, network
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administrators spend much of their time dealing with moves and changes. If users move to a
different subnetwork, the addresses of each endstation must be updated manually.
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