Wide Area Network Lab

VLAN prelab
Team 1.3
Name: Le Minh Hoang. Student number: e1601133
Name: Dang Nguyen. Student number: e1601132
Name: Pham Chinh. Student number: e1500962
Name: Bui Minh Nguyen. Student number: e1601108

1. What is VLAN and why we need it?

A Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) is a group of devices belong to one or
more LANs that are configured to communicate as if they are connected with
each other through the same wire.
In short, it is a network of devices in different LANs but behave like they are
in the same LANs.
“The key benefits of implementing VLANs include:

 Allowing network administrators to apply additional security to

network communication
 Making expansion and relocation of a network or a network device
easier
 Providing flexibility because administrators are able to configure in a
centralized environment while the devices might be located in
different geographical locations
 Decreasing the latency and traffic load on the network and the
network devices, offering increased performance.”
 2. What is broadcast domain? Is the range of this domain the bigger
the better?
A broadcast domain is a set of devices that can received broadcast message
originating from any devices within the set.
The range of the domain should not be too large, because it will slow down the
network and increase unnecessary traffic. (Because the broadcast data may be
transfer to devices that are not need that data).

3. On a switch, what is called a trunk port? What is called an access

port?
“A trunk port: A trunk port can have two or more VLANs configured on the
interface; it can carry traffic for several VLANs simultaneously.
An access port: An access port can have only one VLAN configured on the
interface; it can carry traffic for only one VLAN.”

4. What is a tagged VLAN? What information is seen in VLAN tag

VLAN tagging is a technic used to identify which packet belongs to which VLANs in
a port that have multiple VLANs traffic (a trunk port).
To know what information is seen in VLAN tag, we will investigate IEEE 802.1Q
standard.

802.1Q tag format, source: Wikipedia.

Tag protocol Identifier (TPID): this field is set to 0x8100 and is used to distinguish
tagged frame from untagged frame.
Tag control Information (TCI): has several subfields:
Priority code point (PCP): Frame priority level, different PCP
values can be used to prioritize different classes of traffic.
Drop eligible indicator (DEI): determine whether the frame can
be dropped in case of congestion.
VLAN identifier (VID): Specifies which VLANs which this frame
belong to. Note: 0x000 and 0xFFF are reserved.