Cisco WS-C2916M-XL Software Guide - Page 224

Overview Chapter 8 Configuring VLANs Overview A virtual LAN (VLAN) is a switched network that is logically segmented by function, project team, or application, without regard to the physical locations of the users. Any switch port can belong to a VLAN, and unicast, broadcast, and multicast packets are forwarded and flooded only to stations in the VLAN. Each VLAN is considered a logical network, and packets destined for stations that do not belong to the VLAN must be forwarded through a router or bridge as shown in Figure 8-1. VLANs are identified with a number of 1 to 1001. Because a VLAN is considered a separate logical network, it contains its own bridge Management Information Base (MIB) information and can support its own implementation of the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP). For information about managing VLAN STP instances, see the "Supported STP Instances" section on page 6-33. Table 8-1 lists the number of supported VLANs and STP instances on the switches. Table 8-1 Maximum Number of Supported VLANs Switch Catalyst 2912 XL, Catalyst 2924 XL, and Catalyst 2924C XL switches Catalyst 2900 LRE XL switches Catalyst 2912M and Catalyst 2924M modular switches Catalyst 3500 XL switches Maximum Number Maximum Number Trunking of VLANs of STP Instances Supported? 64 64 Yes 250 64 Yes 250 64 Yes 250 64 Yes Figure 8-1 VLANs as Logically Defined Networks Cisco router Catalyst 3500 series XL Engineering VLAN Marketing VLAN Accounting VLAN Fast Ethernet Catalyst 2900 series XL Catalyst 2900 series XL Floor 3 Floor 2 Floor 1 15933 Catalyst 2900 Series XL and Catalyst 3500 Series XL Software Configuration Guide 8-2 78-6511-08