Stackable NWay Ethernet Switch User’s Guide
Figure 5-3. Port trunking example
The switch treats all ports in a trunk group as a single port. As such, trunk ports will not be blocked by Spanning Tree (unless a redundant link with higher STP priority is present).
Data transmitted to a specific host (destination address) will always be transmitted over the same port in a trunk group. This allows packets in a data stream to arrive in the same order they were sent. A trunk connection can be made with any other switch that maintains
VLAN
VLANs are a collection of switch ports grouped together in a secure, autonomous broadcast and multicast domain. VLANs allow a network to be segmented in order to reduce the size of broadcast domains. All Ethernet packets (unicast, broadcast, multicast, unknown, etc.) entering a VLAN will only be forwarded to the ports that are members of that VLAN.
Another benefit of VLANs is that you can change the network topology without physically moving stations or changing cable connections. Stations can be “moved” simply by changing VLAN settings from one VLAN (the sales VLAN, for example) to another VLAN (the marketing VLAN). This allows VLANs to accommodate network moves, changes, and additions with the utmost flexibility.
VLANs can also provide a level of security to your network.
The untagging feature of IEEE 802.1Q VLANs allow VLANs to work with legacy switches and NICs that don’t recognize VLAN tags in packet headers. The tagging feature allows VLANs to span multiple
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