VTP Server and VTP Client Vlan Port Assignment Question

[joeyrego214543]

I have some questions that I hope someone can answer. If I wanted to set up VTP with a switch in Server mode and another switch in Client mode. WIll the port configurations change on the client switch. Like for example: Lets say I have on the switch that is the Server ports 5-10 configured for vlan 10. WIll that propagate to the client and have the clients ports 5-10 be on that vlan now? If so is this how it is supposed to be?

From my reading and understanding of VTP all vtp is doing is presenting Vlans to other switches so that they are accesible so you wont have to manaully add the vlan to the vlan database if it didnt exist. Not change port vlan assignments?

Any help would be appreciated. I have looked a multiple documentation about VTP from Cisco and this point is not clearly defined in any of them. Here are some of the sites that i looked at.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk389/tk689/technologies_tech_note09186a0080094c52.shtml

http://www.cramsession.com/articles/files/vlan-trunking-protocol-ba-9172003-0937.asp

http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=29803&seqNum=4&rl=1

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/lan/cat5000/rel_5_2/config/vtp.htm

[royalblues]

Hi Joey,

VTP is a Layer 2 protocol for communicate VLAN information among a group of switches. VTP manages the addition, deletion, and renaming of VLANs across the network from a central point of control. Any switch participating in a VTP exchange is aware of and can use any VLAN that VTP manages.

However the ports on a particular switch has to assigned to a particular VLAN.

So in your above example, the VLANs will get propogated but the port assignments will not. U need to manually assign these to that vlan.

If u create a New vlan on the server, the new vlan will appear on the client switch

Also to pass on these VLANS across switches u need to have a trunk between the switches.

HTH

Narayan

[joeyrego214543]

Thanks for the quick reply. I totally agree with you.

i only ask because i have another tech in our department that said he tested it and the port assignments on the client changed to match that of the server.

Is there anything that he couldve done wrong? Like an option that does do that?

I guess i will just need to verifiy this by seeing what he did and doing it myself. thats really the only way these days. thanks for the help. If you have anything to add please send me a reply.

[devang_etcom]

in switching network when ever you are talking about the VTP then only VLAN information will be exchange between the switch... not the port assingment information...

but yes you can assing the periticular host to the perticular VLAN using the VMPS server... means let say you are having host with the MAC address a.b.c.d.e.f which you want to bind to VLAN 3 ... and if you configure the VMPS such taht if host with the MAC address a.b.c.d.e.f will connect to the switch then VMPS automatically assing that port in to the VLAN 3...this is known as dynamic vlan assignment

but using VTP you can not do this...VTP only exchange the VLAN information not PORT information...

rate this post if it helps

regards

Devang

[joeyrego214543]

Thanks for all the help guys. VMPS is also what we were looking into. Thanks

One other thing on the topic of VTP, how do I set up a backup VTP server. I have read about it but not seen any documentation about it. Any links to documents?

[joeyrego214543]

Sorry guys. The VMPS has got me curious. I have a 3750 POE switch here, can that be the VMPS server? I read that VMPS should be used with VTP so this question can still be valid in this forum.

thanks for all the help

[rwdorman]

VMPS servers can run on one of three platforms. Either a CatOS based switch accompanied by an external tftp server, a VMPS appliance (the partnumber escapes me at the moment) or on a generic *NIX box using the opern source OpenVMPS software.