Assigning Static-Access Ports To A Vlan; Using Vtp; The Vtp Domain; Vtp Modes And Mode Transitions - Cisco Catalyst 2950 Software Manual

Chapter 8 Configuring VLANs

Assigning Static-Access Ports to a VLAN

By default, all ports are dynamic desirable ports assigned to the management VLAN, VLAN 1.
You can assign a static-access port to a VLAN without having VTP globally propagate VLAN
configuration information (VTP is disabled). Configuring the switch for VTP transparent mode disables
VTP.

Using VTP

VTP is a Layer 2 messaging protocol that maintains VLAN configuration consistency by managing the
addition, deletion, and renaming of VLANs on a network-wide basis. VTP minimizes misconfigurations
and configuration inconsistencies that can cause several problems, such as duplicate VLAN names,
incorrect VLAN-type specifications, and security violations.
Before you create VLANs, you must decide whether to use VTP in your network. Using VTP, you can
make configuration changes centrally on a single switch, such as a Catalyst 2950 switch, and have those
changes automatically communicated to all the other switches in the network. Without VTP, you cannot
send information about VLANs to other switches.

The VTP Domain

A VTP domain (also called a VLAN management domain) consists of one switch or several
interconnected switches under the same administrative responsibility. A switch can be in only one VTP
domain. You make global VLAN configuration changes for the domain by using the CLI, Cluster
Management Suite, or SNMP.
By default, a Catalyst 2950 switch is in the no-management-domain state until it receives an
advertisement for a domain over a trunk link (a link that carries the traffic of multiple VLANs) or until
you configure a domain name. The default VTP mode is server mode, but VLAN information is not
propagated over the network until a domain name is specified or learned.
If the switch receives a VTP advertisement over a trunk link, it inherits the domain name and
configuration revision number. The switch then ignores advertisements with a different domain name or
an earlier configuration revision number.
When you make a change to the VLAN configuration on a VTP server, the change is propagated to all
switches in the VTP domain. VTP advertisements are sent over all IEEE 802.1Q trunk connections.
If you configure a switch for VTP transparent mode, you can create and modify VLANs, but the changes
are not transmitted to other switches in the domain, and they affect only the individual switch.
For domain name and password configuration guidelines, see the
page

VTP Modes and Mode Transitions

You can configure a supported switch to be in one of the VTP modes listed in
78-11380-03
8-10.
Assigning Static-Access Ports to a VLAN
"Domain Names" section on
Catalyst 2950 Desktop Switch Software Configuration Guide
Table 8-4.
8-7