To carry traffic of a VLAN, it must be first configured on the switch. Suppose, if the user wants to send a frame from source to destination and the shortest path between them contains 1000 switches. To process a frame of any VLAN, VLANs should be configured first so, have to configure the same VLANs on all the 1000 switches manually. It will not be possible for the administrator to do that. Here comes VTP to the rescue.
VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) – VTP is CISCO proprietary protocol used to maintain consistency throughout the network or the user can say that synchronizing the VLAN information in the same VTP domain. VTP allows you to add, delete and rename VLANs which is then propagated to other switches in the VTP domain. VTP advertisements can be sent over 802.1Q, and ISL trunks.
Requirements – There are some requirements for VTP to communicate VLAN information between switches. These are:
- The VTP version must be same on the switches user wants to configure
- VTP domain name must be same on the switches
- One of the switches must be a server
- Authentication should match if applied
VTP modes – There are 3 modes:
- Server – The switches are set to this mode by default. This mode allows you to create, add and delete VLANs. The changes you want to make should be done in this mode. Any changes that are done on this mode(on a particular switch) will be advertised to all the switches that are in the same VTP domain. In this mode, the configuration are saved in NVRAM.
- Configuration – User will first make the switch VTP server
Switch# config terminal Switch(config)#vtp mode server
Now, User has to make a VTP domain and assign a password for authentication.
Switch(config)#vtp domain geeksforgeeks Switch(config)#vtp password hardwork
User can verify the configuration by:
Switch(config)#do should vtp password Switch(config)#do show vtp
- Client – In this mode, the switches receive the updates and can also forward the updates to other switches(which are in the same VTP domain). The updates received here are not saved in NVRAM so all the configuration will be deleted if the switch is reset or reloaded i.e the switches will only learn and pass the VTP summary advertisements to the other switches.
- Configuration – As the switches are set to server mode by default, therefore user can change it to client mode by:
Switch(config)#vtp mode client
- Transparent – This mode only forwards the VTP summary advertisements through trunk link. The transparent mode switches can make their own local database which keep secret from other switches. The whole purpose of transparent mode is to forward the VTP summary advertisements but not to take part in the VLAN assignments.
- Configuration – User can change the mode to transparent by
Switch(config)#vtp mode transparent
Configuration Revision Number – The configuration revision number is a 32-bit number that indicates the level of revision for a VTP packet. This configuration number is tracked by every switch in order to find that the received information is more recent than the current version. Everytime one modification is done on the VLANs by the server switch, and the configuration revision number increases by one. The client mode devices receive it and check if the configuration revision number that they received is latest or not by comparing their own configuration number with the number received. If the configuration number is greater than their own number then the devices update their configuration and pass it to other clients of the same VTP domain. If the configuration number is the same then the devices just pass it to other clients of the same VTP domain. User can check the configuration revision number by:
switch(config)#do show vtp status
Use VTP in an Organization: As a matter of course, all switches are designed to be VTP servers. This design is appropriate for limited-scope networks in which the size of the VLAN data is little and the data is easily put away in all switches (in NVRAM). In an enormous organization, the organization chairman should settle on a decision sooner or later, when the NVRAM stockpiling that is important is inefficient in light of the fact that it is copied on each switch. Right now, the organization overseer should pick a couple of exceptional switches and keep them as VTP servers. All the other things that partake in VTP can be transformed into a client. The quantity of VTP servers should be picked to give the level of overt repetitiveness that is wanted in the organization.
Contemplations:
- You can design VLAN(s) without the VTP area name arranged on the switch which runs Cisco IOS.
- If another Impetus is joined in the line of two VTP spaces, the new Impetus keeps the space name of the principal switch that sends it a synopsis ad. The best way to join this change to another VTP space is to physically set an alternate VTP area name.
- Dynamic Trunking Convention (DTP) sends the VTP space name in a DTP parcel. Thusly, in the event that you have two finishes of a connection that have a place with various VTP spaces, the storage compartment doesn’t come up assuming that you use DTP. In this unique case, you should design the storage compartment mode as on or negotiate, on the two sides, to permit the storage compartment to come up without DTP discussion understanding.
- If the space has a solitary VTP server and it crashes, the best and most straightforward method for reestablishing the activity is to change any of the VTP clients in that area to a VTP server. The arrangement amendment is as yet unchanged in the other clients, regardless of whether the server crashes. Consequently, VTP works appropriately in the area.