Submitted by MIS on
VLAN can segregate traffic flowing through a switch to improve bandwidth utilization or security. Segregation is done based on membership in a group of ports (port-based VLANs) or on IEEE 802.1Q tags which include a VLAN ID (tag-based VLANs).
A port-based VLAN limits traffic coming in a port to the group of ports to which that port belongs. For example, if ports 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 were placed in a port-based VLAN, broadcast frames coming in port 3 would be sent to ports 1, 5, 7, and 9 (which are members of port 3's VLAN) but not to ports 2, 4, 6, and 8 (which are not members).
A tag-based VLAN limits traffic based on the VLAN ID in a 'tag' associated with the frame. VLAN tags may be explicitly placed in frames by applications or switching equipment, or implicitly assigned to frames based on the switch port where they arrive.
The VLAN feature is available on our managed switches.