09.12.2012 Views

Understanding the network.pdf - Back to Home

Understanding the network.pdf - Back to Home

Understanding the network.pdf - Back to Home

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Figure 6.13. Switches running independent VLANs<br />

connected with interconnection links.<br />

When MAC and Layer 3-based VLANs became available, however, a<br />

means <strong>to</strong> distribute VLAN information between switches became<br />

necessary. Cabletron Systems' SecureFast and Cisco Systems'<br />

InterSwitch Link (ISL) were both very popular, but proprietary, and<br />

hence incompatible distributed VLAN solutions. Therefore, it was<br />

possible <strong>to</strong> deploy enterprise VLANs, provided you used switches that<br />

were all from <strong>the</strong> same switch vendor. The major source of<br />

incompatibility with SecureFast and ISL (and o<strong>the</strong>r proprietary VLAN<br />

distribution schemes) was <strong>the</strong> method <strong>the</strong>y used <strong>to</strong> establish and<br />

describe VLAN membership, which was accomplished through <strong>the</strong> use<br />

of some form of packet (or frame) tagging.<br />

There are two forms of packet tagging: implicit and explicit. Implicit<br />

packet tagging uses an existing packet attribute <strong>to</strong> associate a packet

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!