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VIRTUAL LANS

This chapter provides information on Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs). Definitions, benefits, sample configurations and concepts of VLANs are described here, including:

What are VLANs?

Benefits of VLANs

VLANs and the Switch 2000 TR

Setting up Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) on the Switch 2000 TR provides you with less time-con- suming network administration and more efficient network operation.

The following sections explain more about the con- cept of VLANs and explain how they can be imple- mented on the Switch 2000 TR.

What are VLANs?

A VLAN is defined as a group of location- and topol- ogy- independent devices that communicate as though they were on the same physical LAN. This means that LAN segments are not restricted by the hardware that physically connects them; the seg- ments are defined by flexible user groups that you create using software.

With VLANs, you can define your network according to:

Departmental Groups—For example, you can have one VLAN for the Marketing department, another for the Finance department, and another for the Development department.

Hierarchical Groups—For example, you can have one VLAN for Directors, another for Managers, and another for general staff.

Usage Groups—For example, you can have one VLAN for users of email, and another for users of multimedia.

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3Com TR manual Virtual Lans, What are VLANs?