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CrossFire 8600/8605 Token-Ring Switches v. 1.2, P/N: 710001641 Switch Theory of Operation
VLAN Support
The virtual LAN (VLAN) concept creates a virtual switch within a physical switch
or stack of switches. A VLAN consists of CRFs and has its own Bridge Relay
Function attached. Frames are not forwarded across VLANs and ring numbers must
be unique within a VLAN.
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A VLAN consists of a number of ports of a switch or stack of switches
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No frames are forwarded between ports belonging to different VLANs
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Logical rings on different VLANs may be assigned the same ring number, but
ring numbers must be unique within the same VLAN
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For each VLAN, the stack can be assigned a separate IP address
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The spanning tree protocol is executed independently within each VLAN.
However, since all BRFs use the same Bridge ID for the spanning tree
algorithm, the spanning tree protocol will not function if ports from different
BRFs within one switch are connected.
A sample VLAN with a CrossFire 8600 or a CrossFire 8605 is shown below.
Figure 7. A Switch Configured with Two VLANs