Chapter 7 Basic Setting
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7.4 Introduction to VLANs
A VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) allows a physical network to be partitioned into
multiple logical networks. Devices on a logical network belong to one group. A device can
belong to more than one group. With VLAN, a device cannot directly talk to or hear from
devices that are not in the same group(s); the traffic must first go through a router.
In MTU (Multi-Tenant Unit) applications, VLAN is vital in providing isolation and security
among the subscribers. When properly configured, VLAN prevents one subscriber from
accessing the network resources of another on the same LAN, thus a user will not see the
printers and hard disks of another user in the same building.
VLAN also increases network performance by limiting broadcasts to a smaller and more
manageable logical broadcast domain. In traditional switched environments, all broadcast
packets go to each and every individual port. With VLAN, all broadcasts are confined to a
specific broadcast domain.
Note that VLAN is unidirectional; it only governs outgoing traffic.
See the chapter on VLAN for information on port-based and 802.1Q tagged VLANs.
7.5 Switch Setup Screen
Click Basic Setting and then Switch Setup in the navigation panel display the screen as
shown. The VLAN setup screens change depending on whether you choose 802.1Q or Port
Based in the VLAN Type field in this screen. Refer to the chapter on VLANs.
Figure 32 Switch Setup
