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75575
July 31st, 2012 12:00
Connecting multiple SonicPoints through connected switches
I'm new to the whole managed switches thing, so I am completely lost right now. I have two buildings that are right next to each other, they are connected by fiber. The fiber terminates into unmanaged switches on both ends. This keeps the workstations/servers in both buildings connected to each other. Internet comes into one building, and we use an NSA 240 as our router/firewall. We have one SonicPoint connected directly to the NSA to provide wireless, there are two SSIDs (corporate and guest) broadcasting from the SonicPoint. Now we need to put two SonicPoints in the other building. I purchased two PowerConnect 5524 switches thinking that we could use VLANs to connect the two new SonicPoints to the NSA. The SonicPoints need to be directly connected to a port on the NSA, I am thinking I could use VLAN's to trick the SonicPoints into thinking they are directly connected to the NSA. I figured I'd put one 5524 into each building, plug the fiber into each to connect the building, and then set up VLANs for workstation traffic and SonicPoint traffic. Problem is, I have no idea where to start. I've looked over the documentation multiple times, but I'm confused about access vs general vs trunk and native VLANs and PVIDs and everything else. Can someone please point me in the right direction? Thanks!
DELL-Willy M
802 Posts
0
July 31st, 2012 13:00
Access Links connect VLAN unaware devices to the port of a VLAN-aware switch. All frames on access links are untagged.
The VLAN switch adds tags to received frames, and removes tags when transmitting frames.
End users and VLAN-unaware workstations commonly reside on access links.
By Default all ports are in ACCESS mode assigned to the default VLAN (VLAN 1).
Ports set to Access mode belong to one VLAN only.
Example configuration:
console# configure
console(config)# interface ethernet xxx
console(config-if)# switchport mode access
console(config-if)# switchport access vlan xxx
console(config-if)# end
General Links consist of a combination of VLAN Trunk and Access Links.
General Links can have both tagged and untagged frames, However, all frames sent to a specific VLAN must be tagged. All untagged frames are sent to the native VLAN.
The native VLAN still applies to the General LINK. While it is possible to have multiple untagged vlans on a General link, you can only have ONE (1) PVID. The PVID represents the native VLAN.
While untagged traffic may be sent via several untagged VLANs, returning untagged traffic will only be received by the PVID and therefore will NOT be forwarded to a specific VLAN.
General links are mostly used today for legacy equipment. However, on the PowerConnect 62xx series switches, you must use General mode if you want to allow management traffic onto the switch over the PVID. If you use Trunk mode, you will not have the default VLAN on those ports. The ports will only allow tagged traffic.
Example configuration:
console# configure
console(config)# interface ethernet e11
console(config-if)# switchport mode general
console(config-if)# switchport general allowed vlan add 100 tagged console(config-if)# switchport general allowed vlan add 101 untagged console(config-if)# end
Trunk Links attach two VLAN aware switches (or other VLAN aware devices) together and allows for multiple VLAN frames to cross one link.
On VLAN trunk links, all frames must be tagged with the respective VLAN ID’s
The native VLAN must match on all switches in the segment. (VLAN 1 is default Native VLAN). The native VLAN is NOT tagged.
Configuration is basically the same as general. You just need to swap trunk in for general.
Hope this helps,
Keep us updated if you can.
Michael VanSick
3 Posts
0
August 1st, 2012 06:00
This really clears up some of the definitions for me! However, I'm still not sure where to start. It looks like I need to create trunk ports on both devices to connect the two 5524 switches together. Then would I create general ports to plug in the SonicPoints?
DELL-Willy M
802 Posts
1
August 1st, 2012 10:00
That is correct. Although you may have to change from one to the other depending on the compatibility of the devices.
Sample Trunk commands:
console# configure
console(config)# interface ethernet e11
console(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
console(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan add 100
console(config-if)# end
Sample General commands:
console# configure
console(config)# interface ethernet e11
console(config-if)# switchport mode general
console(config-if)# switchport general allowed vlan add 100 tagged
console(config-if)# switchport general allowed vlan add 101 untagged
console(config-if)# end