System Administration Guide: IP Services

Planning for VLANs on a Network

Use the next procedure for planning for VLANs on your network.

How to Plan for VLAN Configuration

Examine the local network topology and determine where subdivision into VLANs is appropriate.
For a basic example of such a topology, refer to Figure 6-1.
Create a numbering scheme for the VIDs and assign a VID to each VLAN.
Note - A VLAN numbering scheme might already exist on the network. If so, you must create VIDs within the existing VLAN numbering framework.
On each system, determine which interfaces should be members of a particular VLAN.
1. Find out which interfaces are configured on a host.
  # dladm show-link
2. Identify which VID should be associated with each data link on the system.
3. Create PPAs for each interface to be configured with a VLAN.
All interfaces on a system do not necessarily have to be configured on the same VLAN.
Check the connections of the interfaces to the network's switches.
Note the VID of each interface and the switch port where each interface is connected.
Configure each port of the switch with the same VID as the interface to which it is connected.
Refer to the switch manufacturer's documentation for configuration instructions.

Configuring VLANs

The Solaris OS now supports VLANs on the following interface types:

ce
bge
xge
e1000g

Of the legacy interface types, only the ce interface can become a member of a VLAN. You can configure interfaces of different types in the same VLAN. For information about the interface types that are supported by the Solaris OS, refer to Solaris OS Interface Types.

How to Configure a VLAN

Assume the Primary Administrator role, or become superuser.
The Primary Administrator role includes the Primary Administrator profile. To create the role and assign the role to a user, see Chapter 2, "Working With the Solaris Management Console (Tasks)," in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

Determine the types of interfaces in use on your system.

# dladm show-link

The output shows the available interface types:

ce0             type: legacy    mtu: 1500       device: ce0
ce1             type: legacy    mtu: 1500       device: ce1
bge0            type: non-vlan  mtu: 1500       device: bge0
bge1            type: non-vlan  mtu: 1500       device: bge1
bge2            type: non-vlan  mtu: 1500       device: bge2

Configure an interface as part of a VLAN.
# ifconfig interface-PPA plumb IP-address up
For example, you would use the following command to configure the interface ce1 with a new IP address 10.0.0.2 into a VLAN with the VID 123:
# ifconfig ce123001 plumb 10.0.0.2 up
(Optional) To make the VLAN settings persist across reboots, create a hostname.interface-PPA file for each interface that is configured as part of a VLAN.
# cat hostname.interface-PPA IPv4-address
On the switch, set VLAN tagging and VLAN ports to correspond with the VLANs that you have set up on the system.

Example 6-3 Configuring a VLAN

This example shows how to configure devices bge1 and bge2 into a VLAN with the VID 123.

# dladm show-link
ce0             type: legacy    mtu: 1500       device: ce0
ce1             type: legacy    mtu: 1500       device: ce1
bge0            type: non-vlan  mtu: 1500       device: bge0
bge1            type: non-vlan  mtu: 1500       device: bge1
bge2            type: non-vlan  mtu: 1500       device: bge2
# ifconfig bge123001 plumb 10.0.0.1 up
# ifconfig bge123002 plumb 10.0.0.2 up 
# cat hostname.bge123001
  10.0.0.1
# cat hostname.bge123002
  10.0.0.2
# ifconfig -a

lo0: flags=2001000849 <UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,VIRTUAL> 
     mtu 8232 index 1
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000 
bge123001: flags=201000803 <UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,IPv4,CoS> mtu 1500 index 2
        inet 10.0.0.1 netmask ff000000 broadcast 10.255.255.255
        ether 0:3:ba:7:84:5e 
bge123002: flags=201000803 <UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,IPv4,CoS> mtu 1500 index 3
        inet 10.0.0.2 netmask ff000000 broadcast 10.255.255.255
        ether 0:3:ba:7:84:5e 
ce0: flags=1000843 <UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 index 4
        inet 192.168.84.253 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.84.255
        ether 0:3:ba:7:84:5e 
# dladm show-link
ce0             type: legacy    mtu: 1500       device: ce0
ce1             type: legacy    mtu: 1500       device: ce1
bge0            type: non-vlan  mtu: 1500       device: bge0
bge1            type: non-vlan  mtu: 1500       device: bge1
bge2            type: non-vlan  mtu: 1500       device: bge2
bge123001       type: vlan 123  mtu: 1500       device: bge1
bge123002       type: vlan 123  mtu: 1500       device: bge2