BenchAddix

Intro to Basic VLAN Configuration

This guide is more of a tutorial on basic VLAN configuration than an explanation of what VLAN’s are. If you don’t know what a VLAN is you probably won’t be reading this site to begin with. This guide also is not a “HOWTO” on configuring VLAN’s on a specific piece of equipment. We will be discussing the general basics of how VLAN’s are configured in theory. The goal is that after reading this guide you should be able to take the information learned and apply it to real world situations regardless of which brand/model VLAN switch you use.

In this guide I will be using an example network configuration with a 24 port switch with 5 VLAN’s (default, management, data, voice, and wifi), 1 server, 2 network printers, 10 computers, wireless AP, and an IP phone system with 8 IP phones. I will not be discussing configuring routers, wireless AP’s, or phone systems. These subjects will be covered in other more advanced articles in the future where we will build on the basics discussed here.

 
Note: This article does assume two things about the network environment. 1.) All devices are on a single subnet. 2.) The VLAN switch you are using supports Asymmetric or Multi-VLAN Port features. Otherwise a Layer-3 device would be required.
 

First let’s go over the 5 VLAN’s we are going to be creating. For simplicity sake I will keep the VLAN ID numbers low and sequential. Here is the list of VLAN’s we will be configuring.

1. Default VLAN = VLAN 1 (will be used for internet access/uplink)
2. Management VLAN = 10 (will be used for management access)
3. Data VLAN = 20 (will be used as main data VLAN)
4. Voice VLAN = 30 (will be used for IP phone system)
5. Wifi VLAN = 40 (will be used for wireless AP for guest access)

In this guide we are going to be using port based VLAN configuration so the first thing we have to do is decide to which ports individual devices will be connected. There are multiple ways to do this but my personal preference is to just write down the list of ports on my switch on a piece of paper or if I am at a computer I will open up notepad and type up a list that looks something like the following:

Port 1: Uplink to router
Port 2: Server
Port 3: PC1
Port 4: PC2
Port 5: PC3
Port 6: PC4
Port 7: PC5
Port 8: PC6
Port 9: PC7
Port 10: PC8
Port 11: PC9
Port 12: PC10
Port 13: Printer1
Port 14: Printer2
Port 15: WirelessAP
Port 16: Phone System
Port 17: Phone1
Port 18: Phone2
Port 19: Phone3
Port 20: Phone4
Port 21: Phone5
Port 22: Phone6
Port 23: Phone7
Port 24: Phone8

Now that we have our list of devices and to which ports they will be connected we can decide what devices will be a member of what VLAN. We again go back to a piece of paper or notepad and make another list.

VLAN 1(Default): (All devices that need to access the internet would be in this VLAN)
Server
Computers (PC1 – PC10)
WirelessAP (If you want your wireless guests to use your internet)
Server for phone system (If you want remote access/management of the phone system)

VLAN 10(Management): (All devices that need to be able to connect to and manage the switch)
Server
Computers (For this example only PC1 – PC4)

VLAN 20(Data): (All devices that need data communications. This VLAN is also referred to as the main network VLAN)
Server
Computers (PC1 – PC10)
Printers (Printer1, Printer2)

VLAN 30(Voice): (All voice devices)
Phone System
Phones (Phone1 – Phone8)
Computers (For this example only PC1 – PC4)

VLAN 40(Wifi): (For this example only guests will access the network via wifi)
Guest IP Devices (Notebooks, tablets, smartphones, etc)
Printer2 (For this example Printer2 is accessible by the computers on the main network and is available for guest devices to print if needed)

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