C H A P T E R 2

Using the Intel Express 460T Standalone Switch

GARP VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP)

Because IEEE 802.1Q VLANs can span networks, managing changes to the VLAN poses a challenge for network administrators. The GARP VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP) provides a dynamic mechanism for switches to share topology information and manage changes with other switches. The network administrator does not have to manually propagate VLAN configuration information across switches.

GARP (Generic Attribute Registration Protocol) is defined by the IEEE 802.1D (1998 Edition) specification and is the mechanism used by switches and end nodes to propagate VLAN configurations across the network domain. GVRP uses GARP as a foundation to propagate VLAN configurations to other switches. Devices that support GVRP transmit their updates to a known multicast address that all GVRP-capable devices monitor for information updates.

Sending GVRP messages between switches accomplishes the following tasks:

Dynamically adds or removes a port from participating in a VLAN.

Sends updates about the switch’s own VLAN configuration to neighboring GVRP-capable devices.

Integrates dynamic and static VLAN configurations within the same switch. Static VLAN configurations are created by the user on the switch for devices that don’t support GVRP.

Note: dynamically created VLANs are not saved in the switch’s memory. When the device sending out the GVRP updates is disabled or rebooted, the dynamic VLAN is removed.

Using the 460T

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Intel 460T manual Garp Vlan Registration Protocol Gvrp