Netgear SRX5308 SRX5308 Reference Manual - Page 61

Chapter 3 LAN Configuration This chapter describes how to configure the advanced LAN features of your VPN firewall. This chapter contains the following sections: • "Managing Virtual LANs and DHCP Options" on this page • "Configuring Multi-Home LAN IP Addresses on the Default VLAN" on page 3-12 • "Managing Groups and Hosts (LAN Groups)" on page 3-14 • "Configuring and Enabling the DMZ Port" on page 3-20 • "Managing Routing" on page 3-24 Managing Virtual LANs and DHCP Options A local area network (LAN) can generally be defined as a broadcast domain. Hubs, bridges, or switches in the same physical segment or segments connect all endpoints. Endpoints can communicate with each other without the need for a router. Routers connect LANs together, routing the traffic to the appropriate port. A virtual LAN (VLAN) is a local area network with a definition that maps workstations on some basis other than geographic location (for example, by department, type of user, or primary application). To enable traffic to flow between VLANs, traffic must go through a router, just as if the VLANs were on two separate LANs. A VLAN is a group of PCs, servers, and other network resources that behave as if they were connected to a single network segment-even though they might not be. For example, all marketing personnel might be spread throughout a building. Yet if they are all assigned to a single VLAN, they can share resources and bandwidth as if they were connected to the same segment. The resources of other departments can be invisible to the marketing VLAN members, accessible to all, or accessible only to specified individuals, depending on how the IT manager has set up the VLANs. 3-1 v1.0, April 2010