Introduction
1.4 WORKGROUPS
This section describes Workgroup support for the SmartSTACK Ethernet
The purpose of Workgroups is to isolate broadcast and multicast traffic to within the Workgroup. In some cases, unicast traffic will also be isolated. Due to the fact that a typical unicast address is obtained by first issuing an ARP packet (which is a broadcast, and the broadcast packet will not be forwarded outside of the Workgroup), the unicast address will not be learned outside of the Workgroup. The end result is that host or servers will not be able to communicate with other hosts or servers outside of their Workgroup.
Unlike IEEE standard VLANs which span switches, Workgroups only deal with filtering and forwarding of frames within the single switch. When packets are received on a port, the packet will be identified with a single Workgroup. The packet will then be forwarded or filtered based on that single Workgroup marking. When a packet leaves the switch, the packet will appear just as it did when it was received on the inbound port.
The SmartSTACK Ethernet
NOTE |
Virtual Workgroups will only operate in 802.1D mode.
Virtual workgroups offer the ability to limit broadcasts to logical domains within the network. Workgroup destinations are recognized by the SmartSTACK Ethernet
For further information, refer to the Workgroup Command in Chapter 5, Configuring Workgroups Using LCM.