SMC Networks 8708L2, Installation Manual

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N
ETWORK
P
LANNING
2-4
Making VLAN Connections
This switch supports VLANs which can be used to organize any group of
network nodes into separate broadcast domains. VLANs confine
broadcast traffic to the originating group, and can eliminate broadcast
storms in large networks. This provides a more secure and cleaner network
environment.
VLANs can be based on untagged port groups, or traffic can be explicitly
tagged to identify the VLAN group to which it belongs. Untagged VLANs
can be used for small networks attached to a single switch. However,
tagged VLANs should be used for larger networks, and all the VLANs
assigned to the inter-switch links.
These switch also support multiple spanning trees which allow VLAN
groups to maintain a more stable path between all VLAN members. This
can reduce the overall amount of protocol traffic crossing the network, and
provide a shorter reconfiguration time if any link in the spanning tree fails.
Figure 2-3 Making VLAN Connections
Note: When connecting to a switch that does not support IEEE 802.1Q
VLAN tags, use untagged ports.
Finance
Untagged Ports
VLAN
unaware
switch
Tagged Port
R&D
Testing
VLAN 1
VLAN 2
Marketing
VLAN 3
Finance
VLAN 3
VLAN 4
VLAN
aware
switch
R&D
VLAN 2
Testing
VLAN 1
Tagged
Ports