Table of contents

Introduction......................................................................................................................2
VLAN Tagging ...............................................................................................................2
VLAN Tagging Protocol..................................................................................................3
InterSwitch Link (ISL).....................................................................................................3
IEEE 802.1q.....................................................................................................................4
LAN Emulation (LANE).................................................................................................6
802.10 (FDDI)..................................................................................................................7
Summary..........................................................................................................................8
Introduction

We mentioned that Trunk Links are designed to pass frames (packets) from all VLANs,
allowing us to connect multiple switches together and independently configure each port to a
specific VLAN. However, we haven't explained how these packets run through the Trunk
Links and network backbone, eventually finding their way to the destination port without
getting mixed or lost with the rest of the packets flowing through the Trunk Links.

This process belongs to the world of VLAN Tagging!

VLAN Tagging

VLAN Tagging, also known as Frame Tagging, is a method developed by Cisco to help identify
packets travelling through trunk links. When an Ethernet frame traverses a trunk link, a
special VLAN tag is added to the frame and sent across the trunk link.

As it arrives at the end of the trunk link the tag is removed and the frame is sent to the
correct access link port according to the switch's table, so that the receiving end is
unaware of any VLAN information.

The diagram below illustrates the process described above:

Here we see two 3500 series Catalyst switches and one Cisco 3745 router connected via
the Trunk Links. The Trunk Links allow frames from all VLANs to travel throughout the
network backbone and reach their destination regardless of the VLAN the frame belongs
to. On the other side, the workstations are connected directly to Access Links (ports
configured for one VLAN membership only), gaining access to the resources required by
VLAN's members.

Again, when we call a port 'Access Link' or 'Trunk Link', we are describing it based on the
way it has been configured. This is because a port can be configured as an Access Link or
Trunk Link (in the case where it's 100Mbits or faster).

This is stressed because a lot of people think that it's the other way around, meaning, a
switch's uplink is always a Trunk Link and any normal port where you would usually connect a
workstation, is an Access Link port!

VLAN Tagging Protocol

We're now familiar with the term 'Trunk Link' and its purpose, that is, to allow frames from
multiple VLANs to run across the network backbone, finding their way to their destination.
What you might not have known though is that there is more than one method to 'tag' these
frames as they run through the Trunk Links or ... the VLAN Highway as we like to call it.

InterSwitch Link (ISL)

ISL is a Cisco propriety protocol used for FastEthernet and Gigabit Ethernet links only. The
protocol can be used in various equipments such as switch ports, router interfaces, server
interface cards to create a trunk to a server and much more. You'll find more information
on VLAN implementations on our last page of the VLAN topic.

Being a propriety protocol, ISL is available and supported naturally on Cisco products only:)
You may also be interested in knowing that ISL is what we call, an 'external tagging
process'. This means that the protocol does not alter the Ethernet frame as shown above in
our previous diagram - placing the VLAN Tag inside the Ethernet frame, but encapsulating
the Ethernet frame with a new 26 byte ISL header and adding an additional 4 byte frame
check sequence (FCS) field at the end of frame, as illustrated below:
Despite this extra overhead, ISL is capable of supporting up to 1000 VLANs and does not
introduce any delays in data transfers between Trunk Links.

In the above diagram we can see an ISL frame encapsulating an Ethernet II frame. This is
the actual frame that runs through a trunk link between two Cisco devices when configured
to use ISL as their trunk tagging protocol.

The encapsulation method mentioned above also happens to be the reason why only ISL-
aware devices are able to read it, and because of the addition of an ISL header and FCS
field, the frame can end up being 1548 bytes long! For those who can't remember,
Ethernet's maximum frame size is 1518 bytes, making an ISL frame of 1548 bytes, what we
call a 'giant' or 'jumbo' frame!

Lastly, ISL uses Per VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST) which runs one instance of the Spanning
Tree Protocol (STP) per VLAN. This method allows us to optimise the root switch placement
for each available VLAN while supporting neat features such as VLAN load balancing
between multiple trunks.

Since the ISL's header fields are covered on a separate page, we won't provide further
details here.

IEEE 802.1q

The 802.1q standard was created by the IEEE group to address the problem breaking large
networks into smaller and manageable ones through the use of VLANs. The 802.1q standard
is of course an alternative to Cisco's ISL, and one that all vendors implement on their
network equipment to ensure compatibility and seamless integration with the existing
network infrastructure.

As with all 'open standards' the IEEE 802.1q tagging method is by far the most popular and
commonly used even in Cisco oriented network installations mainly for compatability with
other equipment and future upgrades that might tend towards different vendors.
In addition to the compatability issue, there are several more reasons for which most
engineers prefer this method of tagging. These include:

 Support of up to 4096 VLANs

 Insertion of a 4-byte VLAN tag with no encapsulation
 Smaller final frame sizes when compared with ISL

Amazingly enough, the 802.1q tagging method supports a whopping 4096 VLANs (as opposed
to 1000 VLANs ISL supports), a large amount indeed which is merely impossible to deplet in
your local area network.

The 4-byte tag we mentioned is inserted within the existing Ethernet frame, right after
the Source MAC Address as illustrated in the diagram below:

Because of the extra 4-byte tag, the minimum Ethernet II frame size increases from 64
bytes to 68 bytes, while the maximum Ethernet II frame size now becomes 1522 bytes. If
you require more information on the tag's fields, visit our protocol page where further
details are given.

As you may have already concluded yourself, the maximum Ethernet frame is considerably
smaller in size (by 26 bytes) when using the IEEE 802.1q tagging method rather than ISL.
This difference in size might also be interpreted by many that the IEEE 802.1q tagging
method is much faster than ISL, but this is not true. In fact, Cisco recommends you use
ISL tagging when in a Cisco native environment, but as outlined earlier, most network
engineers and administrators believe that the IEEE802.1q approach is much safer, ensuring
maximum compatability.

And because not everything in this world is perfect, no matter how good the 802.1q tagging
protocol might seem, it does come with its restrictions:

• In a Cisco powered network, the switch maintains one instance of the Spanning Tree
Protocol (STP) per VLAN. This means that if you have 10 VLANs in your network,
there will also be 10 instances of STP running amongst the switches. In the case of
 non-Cisco switches, then only 1 instance of STP is maintained for all VLANs, which is
certainly not something a network administrator would want.

• It is imperative that the VLAN for an IEEE 802.1q trunk is the same for both ends
of the trunk link, otherwise network loops are likely to occur.

• Cisco always advises that disabling a STP instance on one 802.1q VLAN trunk without
disabling it on the rest of the available VLANs, is not a good idea because network
loops might be created. It's best to either disable or enable STP on all VLANs.

LAN Emulation (LANE)

LAN Emulation was introduced to solve the need of creating VLANs over WAN links,
allowing network managers to define workgroups based on logical function, rather than
physical location. With this new technology (so to speak - it's actually been around since
1995!), we are now able to create VLANs between remote offices, regardless of their
location and distance.

LANE is not very common and you will most probably never see it implemented in small to
mid-sized networks, however, this is no reason to ignore it. Just keep in mind that we won't
be looking at it in much depth, but briefly covering it so we can grasp the concept.

LANE has been supported by Cisco since 1995 and Cisco's ISO release 11.0. When
implemented between two point-to-point links, the WAN network becomes totally
transparent to the end users:

Every LAN or native ATM host, like the switch or router shown in the diagram, connects to
the ATM network via a special software interface called 'LAN Emulation Client'. The LANE
Client works with the LAN Emulation Server (LES) to handle all messages and packets
flowing through the network, ensuring that the end clients are not aware of the WAN
network infrastructure and therefore making it transparent.

The LANE specification defines a LAN Emulation Configuration Server (LECS), a service
running inside an ATM switch or a physical server connected to the ATM switch, that
resides within the ATM network and allows network administrators to control which LANs
are combined to form VLANs.

The LAN Emulation Server with the help of the LANE Client, maps MAC addresses to ATM
addresses, emulating Layer 2 protocols (DataLink layer) and transporting higher layer
protocols such as TCP/IP, IPX/SPX without modification.

802.10 (FDDI)

Tagging VLAN frames on Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) networks is quite
common in large scale networks. This implementation is usually found on Cisco's high-end
switch models such as the Catalyst 5000 series where special modules are installed inside
the switches, connecting them to an FDDI backbone. This backbone interconnects all major
network switches, providing a fully redundant network.

The various modules available for the Cisco Catalyst switches allow the integration of
Ethernet into the FDDI network. When intalling the appropriate switch modules and with
the use of the 802.10 SAID field, a mapping between the Ethernet VLAN and 802.10
network is created, and as such, all Ethernet VLANs are able to run over the FDDI network.

The diagram above shows two Catalyst switches connected to a FDDI backbone. The links
between the switches and the backbone can either be Access type links (meaning one VLAN
passes through them) or Trunk links (all VLANs are able to pass through them). At both
ends, the switches have an Ethernet port belonging to VLAN 6, and to 'connect' these ports
we map each switch's Ethernet module with its FDDI module.

Lastly, the special FDDI modules mentioned above support both single VLANs (non-trunk)
and multiple VLANs (trunk).
To provide further detail, the diagram below shows the IEEE 802.10 frame, along with the
SAID field in which the VLAN ID is inserted, allowing the frame to transit trunk links as
described:

It's okay if your impressed or seem confused with the structure of the above frame, that's
normal You'll be suprised to find out that the Cisco switch in the previous diagram must
process the Ethernet II frame and convert it before placing it on the IEEE 802.10
backbone or trunk.

During this stage, the original Ethernet II frame is converted to an Ethernet SNAP frame
and then finally to an IEEE 802.10 frame. This conversion is required to maintain
compatability and reliability between the two different topologies. The most important bit
to remember here is the SAID field and its purpose.

Summary

This page introduced four popular VLAN tagging methods, providing you with the frame
structure and general details of each tagging method. Out of all, the IEEE 802.1q and ISL
tagging methods are the most popular, so make sure you understand them quite well.

The next page provides further detail by analysing the two popular tagging methods
mentioned above. While some readers might find the details unnecessary and time wasting,
we feel that they are required if you want to build a rock solid network library in your head.