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NAME

na_vlan - Manages VLAN interface configuration.

SYNOPSIS

vlan create [ -g {on|off} ] if_name vlanid ...

vlan add if_name vlanid ...

vlan delete [ -q ] if_name [ vlanid ... ]

vlan modify [ -g {on|off} ] if_name

vlan stat if_name [ vlanid ]

In the vlan commands, if_name stands for the name of an Ethernet interface. The vlanid is a numerical value between 1 and 4094.

DESCRIPTION

VLAN interfaces allow a single network interface card to participate in multiple broadcast domains supported by a VLAN enabled switch. Individual frames are tagged with a vlanid to distinguish which VLAN the data belongs to.

Once created, a VLAN interface is indistinguishable from a physical network interface. You can inspect and modify statistical and configuration information using the ifconfig and netstat commands, among others. An Ethernet interface can be configured to support multiple VLANs with different MTU sizes. One reason to do this would be to enable storage systems and workstations on a high speed gigabit backbone to communicate with each other using large packets on a separate VLAN. Lower speed clients belonging to a VLAN of conventionally-sized Ethernet packets could be connected to the same backbone via 10/100 Mbps switches at the edge of the network. A storage system with a single gigabit interface that supports VLANs would then be able to communicate with devices in either VLAN.

The switch port connected to the storage system must be configured to support the VLANs in which the storage system participates, unless GVRP (GARP VLAN Registration Protocol) has been enabled. If GVRP is configured on the storage system and switch, a VLAN interface is able to dynamically register its vlanids with the switch. This does away with the need to explicitly configure specific VLANs on the switch port.

OPTIONS

create
Creates one or more VLAN interfaces for each vlanid that is specified. The Ethernet interface if_name is converted to a VLAN only interface. The -g option can be used to enable GVRP on the interface. GVRP is turned off by default.

add
Adds one or more VLAN interfaces to an Ethernet interface if_name that has already been used to create a VLAN interface.

delete
Will delete all interfaces associated with an Ethernet adapter when only the if_name is specified. If one or more vlanids are also specified, each VLAN interface corresponding to a vlanid will be deleted. The delete operation will fail if any interface that is to be deleted is configured "up". The -q option can be used to force the deletion of vlan interfaces, regardless of "up" or "down" status.

modify
Will enable or disable GVRP on an already created VLAN interface. The underlying interface is specified as if_name.

stat
Displays the number of packets received and transmitted on each link that makes up the VLAN interface.

EXAMPLES

The following command creates two VLAN interfaces e3-10 and e3-20:

vlan create e3 10 20

The following example would display statistics for all VLANs associated with interface e3:

vlan stat e3

To display statistics for just VLAN interface e3-20, use the following command:

vlan stat e3 20

HA CONSIDERATIONS

A VLAN interface behaves almost identically to a physical network interface in the HA pair. For a VLAN interface to successfully takeover a partner IP address, the partner's adapter must be a member of the same VLAN as the interface on the takeover system.

Example: An HA pair contains two storage systems, toaster1 and toaster2. toaster1 takes over toaster2 after toaster2 fails.

The /etc/rc file on toaster1 is as follows:

  vlan create e0 10
  vlan create e1 20 30
  ifconfig e0-10 192.9.200.37
  ifconfig e1-20 192.9.200.38 partner 192.9.200.41
  ifconfig e1-30 partner 192.9.200.42

The /etc/rc file on toaster2 is as follows:

  vlan create e7 30
  vlan create e8 10 20
  ifconfig e7-30 192.9.200.42
  ifconfig e8-20 192.9.200.41 partner 192.9.200.38
  ifconfig e8-10 partner 192.9.200.37

The e0-10 VLAN interface on toaster1 is a dedicated interface. It services requests only for address 192.9.200.37. After toaster1 takes over toaster2, this network interface is not available in partner mode.

The e1-20 VLAN interface on toaster1 is a shared interface. It services requests for address 192.9.200.38 when toaster1 is not in takeover mode. When toaster1 is in takeover mode, the network interface services requests for both addresses, 192.9.200.38 and 192.9.200.41. When toaster1 is in partner mode, this network interface shows up as the e8-20 interface in commands that involve network interface names.

The e1-30 interface on toaster1 is a standby VLAN. It does not service any request when toaster1 is not in takeover mode. However, after toaster1 takes over toaster2, this network interface services requests for address 192.9.200.42. When toaster1 is in partner mode, this network interface shows up as the e7-30 interface in commands that involve network interface names.

LIMITATIONS

In partner or takeover mode, the create, add and delete operations are disabled.

SEE ALSO

na_ifconfig(1), na_netstat(1), na_sysconfig(1)


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