Alcatel Omni Switch/Router, User Manual

Page: 655 / 1100

VLAN Advertisement Protocol (VAP)
Page 21-9
VAP and Port Policies
One of the main purposes of
VAP
is to advertise the connectivity of devices attached to the
switch via AutoTracker port policies.
VAP
eliminates the need to apply port policies to back-
bones to ensure that connectivity is established and maintained. When you use port policies,
all devices heard through a port will become a member of the
VLAN
. Using port policies
across backbones is not efficient because all devices learned over the backbone would be
placed in the same
VLAN
since they would be attached to the same port.
For this reason, port policies should not be used to interconnect switches because these poli-
cies classify
MAC
addresses on
VLAN
s. Backbone ports should be left in the default
VLAN
, and
only learned devices should be segregated into
VLAN
s by port policies.
There are two types of port policies (or rules), regular port rules and port forwarding rules.
Only one can be active at a time. The type of port rule is determined by a command line in
the
mpx.cmd
file. See Port Policy Functionality in Chapter 22, “Managing AutoTracker VLANs,”
for a detailed explanation of the two port rules settings.
Regular port policy places frames received on a particular port into a
VLAN
;
VLAN
member-
ship is based on the port. The current version of
VAP
supports regular port rules only.
If you set up
VAP
in its full mode (
VLAN
membership exchanges and auto-discovery), the
switch will automatically set the port policy to regular mode.
♦
Note
♦
Earlier versions of
VAP
include an Adjacency Only
mode. If an earlier version of
VAP
is running on the
switch in Adjacency Only mode, when new code is
loaded and the switch is rebooted,
VAP
will be set to
off. If an earlier version of
VAP
is set to Full mode,
VAP
remains in Full mode when the new code is loaded
and the switch is rebooted.
Configuring VAP
There are two settings for the
VLAN
advertisement protocol, off or full mode. These modes
are defined as follows:
• Full mode—
VLAN
membership information exchanged between switches and auto-discov-
ery of network nodes is enabled. This option automatically sets the port policy to regular
mode.
• Off —Disables
VAP
exchanges. Nodes will not be auto-discovered and
VLAN
information
will not be exchanged between switches.
To change the
VAP
mode, at a UI command prompt, enter
vlap
and select the mode in which
you want
VAP
to run. A screen similar to the following displays:
The VLAN advertisement protocol is currently not running
To change the mode type: F - full mode, O - off : ( ) :
Or, enter the
vlap
command with the desired mode. For example:
vlap f
A message similar to the following displays:
The VLAN advertisement protocol is currently running.
The new mode takes effect immediately. You do not need to reboot the switch.