SMC Networks SMC6752AL2 manual 144

CONFIGURING THE SWITCH

Automatic VLAN Registration – GVRP (GARP VLAN Registration Protocol) defines a system whereby the switch can automatically learn the VLANs to which each end station should be assigned. If an end station (or its network adapter) supports the IEEE 802.1Q VLAN protocol, it can be configured to broadcast a message to your network indicating the VLAN groups it wants to join. When this switch receives these messages, it will automatically place the receiving port in the specified VLANs, and then forward the message to all other ports. When the message arrives at another switch that supports GVRP, it will also place the receiving port in the specified VLANs, and pass the message on to all other ports. VLAN requirements are propagated in this way throughout the network. This allows GVRP-compliant devices to be automatically configured for VLAN groups based solely on endstation requests.

To implement GVRP in a network, first add the host devices to the required VLANs (using the operating system or other application software), so that these VLANs can be propagated onto the network. For both the edge switches attached directly to these hosts, and core switches in the network, enable GVRP on the links between these devices. You should also determine security boundaries in the network and disable GVRP on the boundary ports to prevent advertisements from being propagated, or forbid those ports from joining restricted VLANs.

Note: If you have host devices that do not support GVRP, you should configure static or untagged VLANs for the switch ports connected to these devices (as described in “Adding Static Members to VLANs (VLAN Index)” on page 3-151). But you can still enable GVRP on these edge switches, as well as on the core switches in the network.

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