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Chapter 4: Web-Based Management
66 GE-DS-242-PoE Managed Ethernet Switch User Manual
802.1Q VLAN
IEEE 802.1Q Tunneling (Q-in-Q)
IEEE 802.1Q Tunneling (QinQ) is designed for service providers carrying traffic for
multiple customers across their networks. QinQ tunneling is used to maintain
customer-specific VLAN and Layer 2 protocol configurations even when different
customers use the same internal VLAN IDs. This is accomplished by inserting Service
Provider VLAN (SPVLAN) tags into the customer's frames when they enter the service
provider's network, and then stripping the tags when the frames leave the network.
A service provider's customers may have specific requirements for their internal VLAN
IDs and number of VLANs supported. VLAN ranges required by different customers in
the same service-provider network might easily overlap, and traffic passing through
the infrastructure might be mixed. Assigning a unique range of VLAN IDs to each
customer would restrict customer configurations, require intensive processing of
VLAN mapping tables, and could easily exceed the maximum VLAN limit of 4096.
The Managed Switch supports multiple VLAN tags and can therefore be used in MAN
applications as a provider bridge, aggregating traffic from numerous independent
customer LANs into the MAN (Metro Access Network) space. One of the purposes of
the provider bridge is to recognize and use VLAN tags so that the VLANs in the MAN
space can be used independent of the customers' VLANs. This is accomplished by
adding a VLAN tag with a MAN-related VID for frames entering the MAN. When
leaving the MAN, the tag is stripped and the original VLAN tag with the customer-
related VID is again available.
This provides a tunneling mechanism to connect remote costumer VLANs through a
common MAN space without interfering with the VLAN tags. All tags use EtherType
0x8100 or 0x88A8, where 0x8100 is used for customer tags and 0x88A8 are used for
service provider tags.