
The EtherType and VLAN ID are inserted after the MAC source address, but before the original EtherType/Length or Logical Link Control. Because the packet is now a bit longer than it was originally, the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) must be recalculated.
Figure 5-10. Adding an IEEE 802.1Q Tag
Port VLAN ID
Packets that are tagged (are carrying the 802.1Q VID information) can be transmitted from one 802.1Q compliant network device to another with the VLAN information intact. This allows 802.1Q VLANs to span network devices (and indeed, the entire network – if all network devices are 802.1Q compliant).
Unfortunately, not all network devices are 802.1Q compliant. These devices are referred to as tag- unaware. 802.1Q devices are referred to as
Prior to the adoption 802.1Q VLANs,
Within the switch, different PVIDs mean different VLANs (remember that two VLANs cannot communicate without an external router). So, VLAN identification based upon the PVIDs cannot create VLANs that extend outside a given switch (or switch stack).
Every physical port on a switch has a PVID. 802.1Q ports are also assigned a PVID, for use within the switch. If no VLANs are defined on the switch, all ports are then assigned to a default VLAN with a PVID equal to 1. Untagged packets are assigned the PVID of the port on which they were received. Forwarding decisions are based upon this PVID, in so far as VLANs are concerned. Tagged packets are forwarded according to the VID contained within the tag. Tagged packets are also assigned a PVID, but the PVID is not used to make packet forwarding decisions, the VID is.
A switch port can have only one PVID, but can have as many VIDs as the switch has memory in its VLAN table to store them.
Because some devices on a network may be
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