Access, trunk and general Switchport Modes

Deploying the Dell PowerConnect 8100 with the Cisco Catalyst

cat6504E_1(config-vlan)#exit

% Applying VLAN changes may take few minutes. Please wait...

cat6504E_1(config)#interface vlan 50 cat6504E_1(config-if)#no shut cat6504E_1(config-vlan)#exitcat6504E_1(config)#interface TenGigabitEthernet 2/1 cat6504E_1(config-if)#switchportcat6504E_1(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q cat6504E_1(config-if)#switchport mode trunk cat6504E_1(config-if)#no shutdown

By connecting a cable from the Cisco Catalyst 6500 (port te2/1) to the PowerConnect 8100 (port te1/0/23) it is possible to reach both switches through the management VLAN. In this example, telnet

5.5.5.5to access the Dell PowerConnect switch, and telnet 5.5.5.7 to access the Cisco switch. Optionally, remove default VLAN traffic from the management ports by using the following commands:

console(config-if-Te1/0/23)#switchport trunk allowed vlan remove 1

cat6504E_1(config-if)#switchport trunk allowed vlan remove 1

This command works the same on both the Dell PowerConnect 8100 and Cisco Catalyst 6500.

Note: Other basic setup configurations might be necessary for the Dell PowerConnect 8100 or Cisco Catalyst 6500 switches, such as a DHCP option for management VLANs, assigning a domain server or assigning a domain name, but these configuration steps are essentially the same for both switches and

are found in the Dell PowerConnect 8100 User Configuration Guide.

Access, trunk and general Switchport Modes

The Dell PowerConnect 8100 series switches can have each port configured in one of the following modes (Dell.com, 2012):

Access	Access ports are intended to connect end devices to the switch or network. Many
	times these end devices are PCs (personal computers) that cannot generate VLAN
	tags on their network device link. Access ports only have one VLAN and any
	traffic on this port is sent and received with no VLAN tagging. With an access
	port, incoming tagged packets are dropped, and any VLAN information is cleared
	from the frame before it is sent to an end device.
Trunk	Trunk-mode ports are intended to link switches together. Trunk ports work with
	both tagged and untagged packets. Tagged packets received on a trunk port are
	forwarded on the VLAN contained in the tag. Untagged packets are forwarded on
	the native VLAN. Trunk mode includes all VLANs by default.
General	This mode is specific to the PowerConnect switches. Ports in general mode are
	either access and/or trunk ports depending on their tagged state.