Alcatel Omni Switch/Router, User Manual

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Page 19-1
19 Managing Groups and Ports
In a traditional hub-based network, a broadcast domain is confined to a single network inter-
face, such as Ethernet, or even a specific physical location, such as a department or building
floor. In a switch-based network, such as one comprised on Omni Switch/Routers,
(OmniS/Rs) a broadcast domain—or
Group — can span multiple physical switches and can
include ports using multiple network interfaces. For example, a single OmniS/R Group could
span three different switches located in different buildings and include Ethernet and
WAN
physical ports.
An unconfigured Omni Switch/Router contains one Group, or broadcast domain. It also
contains one default Virtual Network, or
VLAN
, referred to as “default
VLAN
#1”. The default
Group, Group #1, and its default VLAN contain all physical ports in the switch. When a
switching module is added to the switch all of these additional physical ports are also
assigned to Group #1,
VLAN
#1.
You can create Groups in addition to this default Group. When you add a new Group, you
give it a name and number, optionally configure a virtual router port for its default
VLAN
, and
then add switch ports to it. The switch ports you add to a new Group are moved from the
default Group #1 to this new Group. (For more information on how ports are assigned to
Groups, see
How Ports Are Assigned to Groups on page 19-2.)
Up to 500 Groups can be configured on each OmniS/R. An entire OmniS/R network can
contain up to 65,535 Groups. Each Group is treated as a separate entity.
There are three main types of Groups:
1. Mobile Groups. These groups allow ports to be dynamically assigned to the Group based
on AutoTracker polices. In contrast to non-mobile Groups, AutoTracker rules are assigned
directly to a mobile Group. No AutoTracker VLANs are contained within a mobile Group.
(However, mobile groups do contain a default VLAN 1 to which AutoTracker policies are
assigned; policies assigned to this default VLAN apply to the entire mobile group.) Any
AutoTracker policy may be used as criteria for membership in a mobile Group. Mobile
groups are described in more detail in
Mobile Groups on page 19-5.
2. Mobile Groups based on authentication. Authenticated Groups are a special form of
mobile Group. These Groups include devices that are dynamically assigned based on an
authentication criteria. Typically the user will have to log in with a valid password before
being included in an authenticated mobile Group. Group membership is based on users
proving their identity rather than the physical location of user devices. Authenticated
Groups are described in more detail in the
Switch Network Services User Manual .
3. Non-mobile Groups. These Groups are the original Group type used in previous releases.
They contain statically assigned ports and may contain AutoTracker or Multicast VLANs.
These VLANs within a non-mobile Group use AutoTracker policies to filter traffic.
AutoTracker rules are not assigned to non-mobile Groups, they are assigned to the VLANs
within the Group. Non-mobile groups are described in more detail in
Non-Mobile Groups
and AutoTracker VLANs on page 19-15.
All three types of Groups may co-exist on the same switch. However, a switch port cannot
belong to a non-mobile group and a mobile group.