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7 VLAN Management
7.1 Overview
In the traditional shared media Ethernet and Switched Ethernet, all the users are in the
same broadcast domain. The growing number of the broadcast packet with the more and
more in-network computers leads to the great increase of the data traffic among all intranet
devices, which influence the network performance. The possible broadcast storm brought
by the continuous extension of the network is likely to make the entire network unavailable.
VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network), is a data exchange technology in the realized virtual
work group, by the means of splitting the devices in local area network into multiple network
segments logically instead of physically. The technology logically divides one local area
network into several ones
—VLAN. Free from the limitation of the geographical location, the
VLAN intra-group hosts of the same broadcast domain achieve the mutual exchange
normally, just as connected in the same network segment. The hosts of the different VLAN
are obliged to exchange through a router or other 3 layers packet forwarding facilities rather
than communicate directly, as a result of interlock broadcast isolation.
The following diagram shows how to use VLAN:
VLAN of the
Marketing
Department
VLAN of the
Financial
Department
VLAN of the
Engineering
Department
