VLAN Services Planning and Implementation

  • A virtual LAN (VLAN) is any broadcast domain that is partitioned and isolated in a computer network at the data link layer

  • A VLAN is a group of devices on one or more LANs that are configured to communicate as if they were attached to the same wire, when in fact they are located on a number of different LAN segments. Because VLANs are based on logical instead of physical connections, they are extremely flexible.

Benefits of a VLAN :

  • When set up correctly, virtual LANs can improve the overall performance of busy networks. VLANs are intended to group together client devices that communicate with each other most frequently. The traffic between devices split across two or more physical networks ordinarily needs to be handled by a network's core routers, but with a VLAN that traffic can be handled more efficiently by network switches instead.

  • VLANs also bring additional security benefits on larger networks by allowing greater control over which devices have local access to each other. Wi-Fi guest networks are often implemented using wireless access points that support VLANs.