DATA COMMUNICATION VIRTUAL LOCAL AREA NETWORK

VIRTUAL
LOCAL AREA NETWORK

Prepared By M. Omar Hayat DF#002126 Rahim R Khalfan DF#002118 Noordin DF#002151 Teacher Prof. Fazal Karim Subject DATA COMMUNICATION

INTRODUCTION 1.0 VIRTUAL LAN 1.0

CONTENTS

STEP 1: 2.0- 8.0 Organizing VLAN 2.0 Port Configuration 3.0 MAC based VLAN 4.0 Through telnet 5.0 Layer 3 VLAN 6.0 Router Vs Layer 3 7.0 How VLAN Works 8.0

8.0
VLAN Trunking Protocol 9.0 Illustration 10.0 How VLAN works II 11.0

STEP 3: 12.0 Features of VLAN 12.0

CREDIT 13.0 INDEX 14.0

VIRTUAL
LOCAL AREA NETWORK

I ntroduction

As networks have grown in size and complexity, many companies have turned to Virtual Local Area Networks to provide some way of structuring this growth Logically. The Network can be constructed as one big flat network in which there are no sub networks or routers, and where any computer can potentially link with any other Computer. However, many administrators prefer the physical division of network that router provides contain broadcasts within their boundaries and add security.

V i r t u a l L. A. N
By Virtual L.A.N , we refer to the logical subnetwork* in a flat switched network environment. Basically, a VLAN is a collection of nodes that are grouped together in a single broadcast domain that is based on something other than physical location. Further it is explained in 3 easy steps in the upcoming pages :-

*Subnetwork: Individual LANs and network links joined by routers. Each individual LAN or network link ocnstitutes a subnetwork.

S T E P O N E:

Or g a n i z i n g V i r t u a l L.A.N

The first goal to organize the computer and users into separate VLAN's base is on computer hardware address, port connector address, IP address, or other techniques. Once VLANs are created, routers are required to forward packet* among them.

VLAN CONFIGURATION MEHTODS:

Switching architectures are ideal for the creation of VLANs.The first VLAN were configured manually. Then, as the technology became better understood and more popular more advanced techniques were employed .The following sections describe the various techniques that can be used to build-to-build VLANs. Many vendors are implementing some or all of these techniques. For example, the more advanced methods rely on IP protocols, but networks that both IP and non routable protocols such as Net Bios may need to use the MAC-based method described next in addition to the IP methods. The following are described in detail in the upcoming pages:

Port Configuration Method Mac Based VLANS Through Telnet Layer 3 VLANS

*Packet: group of data

PORT CONFIGURATION METHODS:

This method is really a way to configure separate LANs with in the same box. The result lans are technically not VLANs because they are configured as distinct wiring configurations. The network administrator ties together specific ports on hub or switching devices to create individual lans.

Example: Ports 2,4,5 and 8 are grouped as lan #1 and ports 1,3,6,7,9 and 10 are grouped into lan #2.Two back plane designs are used in hub or switch devices to allow lan configurations: multi bus blackplanes or TDM* (time devison multiplexing) backplanes. With the multi bus design, each bus represents a lan and ports are linked to a specific bus. In the TDM design, a specific LAN owns specific time slots on a single bus. Because LANs are configured with in the hub or switch it self ,it is not possible with some hubs* or switches to bridge* a LAN configured in one device with a LAN configured in another device.

*TDM:Time Division Muliplexer refer that the signal is given a time slot. That the transmission of signal into the line at a specific time . *Bridge: Its a devise to interconnect similar network. *Hubs: are little tiny boxes with 4 to 24 RJ-45 connectors on the back that are used to connect Ethernet lines together.

MAC-BASED VLANS:
The MAC address is the hardwired address built into network interface cards. The network administrator essentially creates a table that defines which MAC addresses belong with what VLAN. As compared to Port configuration methods, this methods provides true VLAN capabilities because membership in a VLANs is not directly tied to a specific Port Configuration is done in software and in some cases, a computer can belong to two or more VLANs. In addition ,if a computer is moved to another location, it still belongs to the same VLAN because its MAC address moves with it.

LAYER 3 VLANS:
This type of VLANs uses layer 3 information to build V LANs based on internetwork protocol addresses. For eg:, all the computers in the marketing VLAN might have IP address 100.200.1.x (where x is specific number for each workstation)while computers in the research VLAN have the IP address 100.200.2.x. Alayer 3 switch is capable of looking at the network address in a frame and forwarding the frame based on information in a table that matches the network address with membership in a particular VLAN .However, looking at the layer 3 address can cause performance problems .Like the MAC-based VLANs, moves are easy because the port of the workstation does not determine VLAN membership. The layer three approach can be extended to include more routing functionally right in the switch, and that is what many vendors have done with thier highend switches. You can refer to SWITCHED NETWORKS to learn about the architectural details of these high end switches.

THROUGH TELNET
VLAN using most switches simply by logging into the switch via Telnet and entering the parameters for the VLAN (name, domain and port assignments). After you have created the VLAN, any network segments connected to the assigned ports will become part of that VLAN. While you can have more than one VLAN on a switch, they cannot communicate directly with one another on that switch. If they could, it would defeat the purpose of having a VLAN, which is to isolate a part of the network. Communication between VLANs requires the use of a router*.

*Router: It is a data communication device which allow data to be directed to its destination based on the data packets and the destination address.

ILLUSTRATION

In the image above, each switch has two VLANs. On the first switch, VLAN A and VLAN B are sent through a single port (trunked) to the router and through another port to the second switch. VLAN C and VLAN D are trunked from the second switch to the first switch, and through the first switch to the router. This trunk can carry traffic from all four VLANs. The trunk link from the first switch to the router can also carry all four VLANs. In fact, this one connection to the router allows the router to appear on all four VLANs, as if it had four, different, physical ports connected to the switch. The VLANs can communicate with each other via the trunking connection between the two switches using the router. For example, data from a computer on VLAN A that needs to get to a computer on VLAN B (or VLAN C or VLAN D) must travel from the switch to the router and back again to the switch. Because of the transparent bridging algorithm and trunking, both PCs and the router think that they are on the same physical segment! As you can see, LAN switches are an amazing technology that can really make a difference in the speed and quality of your network. For more information, please be sure to check out the great links on the next page.

S T E P T H R E E: PowerfullfeaturesofVLAN

Security - Separating systems with sensitive data from the rest of the network decreases the chance that someone will gain access to information they are not authorized to see. Projects/Special applications - Managing a project or working with a specialized
application can be simplified by the use of a VLAN that brings all of the required nodes together.

Performance/Bandwidth - Careful monitoring of network use allows the network

administrator to create VLANs that reduce the number of router hops and increase the apparent bandwidth for network users.

Broadcasts/Traffic flow - Since a principle element of a VLAN is the fact that it does
not pass broadcast traffic to nodes that are not part of the VLAN, it automatically reduces broadcasts. Access lists provide the network administrator with a way to control who sees what network traffic. An access list is a table the network administrator creates that lists what addresses have access to that network.

Departments/Specific job types - Companies may want VLANs set up for departments that are heavy network users (such as Multimedia or Engineering), or a VLAN across departments that is dedicated to specific types of employees (such as managers or sales people).

VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP)

While you can have more than one VLAN on a switch, they cannot communicate directly with one another on that switch. If they could, it would defeat the purpose of having a VLAN, which is to isolate a part of the network. Communication between VLANs requires the use of a router VLANs can span across multiple switches and you can have more than one VLAN on each switch. For multiple VLANs on multiple switches to be able to communicate via a single link between the switches, you must use a process called Trunking; trunking is the technology that allows information from multiple VLANs to be carried over just one link between switches. The VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) is the protocol that switches use to communicate among themselves about VLAN configuration.

ROUTER VS LAYER3

When a router receives a packet, it looks at the Layer 3 (Network Layer) source and destination addresses to determine the path the packet should take. A standard switch relies on the MAC addresses to determine the source and destination of a packet, which is Layer 2 (Data) networking. The fundamental difference between a router and a Layer 3 switch is that Layer 3 switches have optimized hardware to pass data as fast as Layer 2 switches, yet they make decisions on how to transmit traffic at Layer 3, just like a router. Within the LAN environment, a Layer 3 switch is usually faster than a router because it is built on switching hardware. In fact, many of Cisco's Layer 3 switches are actually routers that operate faster because they are built on "switching" hardware with customized chips inside the box. The pattern matching and caching on Layer 3 switches is similar to the pattern matching and caching on a router. Both use a routing protocol and routing table to determine the best path. However, a Layer 3 switch has the ability to reprogram the hardware dynamically with the current Layer 3 routing information. This is what allows much faster packet processing. An important item to note: Routers are necessary when communicating between two VLANs

S T E P T W O: HOW VIRTUAL LAN WORKS

CREDITS

NAME MOHD OMAR HAYAT DF#002126 (GROUP LEADER)

CREDITS Call meeting every weekends ; draw Figure 1 & figure 2 and every suggested graphics ; Co operative , financer and provide resources Research work;

RAHIM R KHALFAN DF#002118 (GROUP MEMBER)

Attend meetings every weekends ; Type all materials and also presented bright ideas; Co operative , Research on net and gathered infos; Research work;

NOORDIN DF#002151 (GROUP MEMBER)

Attend meetings every weekends ; Gather all materials, figures for printing; Co operative , Research on net and gathered infos; Research work; WEB SITIES

http://www.howstuffworks.com http://www.yahoo.com http://www.excite.co.uk http://www.microsoft.com

SOFTWARES RESOURCES

MS Word 2000 Internet Explorer 6.0 Photoshop 5.5 MS Visio Professional ( for figures) MS Paint brush Coffee Cup Viewer

BOOK S

Network Encyclopedia

INDEX A
Application 7.0

L
Layer 3 VLAN 6.0,7.0

B
Backbone11.0 Bandwidth 12.0 Bridge 3.0 Broadcast 1.0, 12.0

M
MAC address 4.0 Marketing 11.0 Multimedia 12.0 Multiplexing 3.0

C
Cisco 7.0 Communication 5.0, 9.0 Credits 13.0

P
Packet 2.0 Physical 7.0

R
Research 11.0 Router 5.0

D
Datalink 7.0 Domain 1.0, 5.0

S
Security 12.0 Switch 6.0, 11.0

E
Ethernet 3.0 Engineering 12.0

T
Telnet 5.0 TDM 3.0 Traffic flow 12.0

F
Features of VLAN 12.0

H
Hub 3.0

I
IP address 6.0 Illustration10.0

Virtual LAN 3.0-12.0

W
Working of VLAN 8.0, 11.0