Native Vlans - Dell Force10 S4810P Configuration Manual

Native VLANs

Traditionally, ports can be either untagged for membership to one VLAN or tagged for membership to
multiple VLANs. An untagged port must be connected to a VLAN-unaware station (one that does not
understand VLAN tags), and a tagged port must be connected to a VLAN-aware station (one that generates
and understands VLAN tags).
Native VLAN support breaks this barrier so that a port can be connected to both VLAN-aware and
VLAN-unaware stations. Such ports are referred to as hybrid ports. Physical and port-channel interfaces
may be hybrid ports.
Native VLAN is useful in deployments where a Layer 2 port can receive both tagged and untagged traffic
on the same physical port. The classic example is connecting a VOIP phone and a PC to the same port of
the switch. The VOIP phone is configured to generate tagged packets (with VLAN = VOICE VLAN), and
the attached PC generates untagged packets.
To configure a port so that it can be a member of an untagged and tagged VLANs:
Step Task
1 Remove any Layer 2 or Layer 3 configurations from the interface.
2 Configure the interface for hybrid mode.
3 Configure the interface for switchport mode.
4 Add the interface to a tagged or untagged VLAN.
Note: An existing switchport or port channel interface cannot be configured for Native VLAN. Interfaces
must have no other Layer 2 or Layer 3 configurations when entering the command portmode hybrid or a
message like Message 1
Message 1 Native VLAN Error
% Error: Port is in Layer-2 mode Gi 5/6.
is displayed.
Command
portmode hybrid
switchport
[ tagged | untagged ]
Command Mode
INTERFACE
INTERFACE
INTERFACE
VLAN INTERFACE
Virtual LANs (VLAN) | 1061