ES-4024A Series Switch Support Notes

process the frame across the network. A tagged frame is four bytes longer than an untagged frame and contains two bytes of TPID (Tag Protocol Identifier, residing within the type/length field of the Ethernet frame) and two bytes of TCI (Tag Control Information, starts after the source address field of the Ethernet frame).

TPID: TPID has a defined value of 8100 in hex. When a frame has the EtherType equal to 8100, this frame carries the tag IEEE 802.1Q / 802.1P.

Priority: The first three bits of the TCI define user priority, giving eight (2^3) priority levels. IEEE 802.1P defines the operation for these 3 user priority bits.

CFI: Canonical Format Indicator is a single-bit flag, always set to zero for Ethernet switches. CFI is used for compatibility reason between Ethernet type network and Token Ring type network. If a frame received at an Ethernet port has a CFI set to 1, then that frame should not be forwarded as it is to an untagged port.

VID: VLAN ID is the identification of the VLAN, which is basically used by the standard 802.1Q. It has 12 bits and allows the identification of 4096 (2^12) VLANs. Of the 4096 possible VIDs, a VID of 0 is used to identify priority frames and value 4095 (FFF) is reserved, so the maximum possible VLAN configurations are 4,094.

Note that user priority and VLAN ID are independent of each other. A frame with VID (VLAN Identifier) of null (0) is called a priority frame, meaning that only the priority level is significant and the default VID of the ingress port is given as the VID of the frame.

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All contents copyright (c) 2006 ZyXEL Communications Corporation.

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ZyXEL Communications manual ES-4024A Series Switch Support Notes