Understanding DNS: The Internet’s Phonebook Every time you open a browser and type a website address like www.google.com, something incredible happens behind the scenes. Your computer somehow knows exactly where that website is located on the internet. But how does that magic happen? The answer lies in one of the most essential systems that powers … Read more
Native VLAN: The Bridge Between Tagged and Untagged Traffic When working with VLANs and trunk links, one of the most common questions that comes up is –“What happens when a trunk port receives a frame that isn’t tagged with any VLAN ID?” This is where the concept of the Native VLAN comes into play. Let’s … Read more
When your network has multiple VLANs, it’s common to see unnecessary broadcast and multicast traffic moving across every trunk link – even to switches that don’t have hosts for that VLAN. This wastes valuable bandwidth. That’s exactly what VTP Pruning is designed to prevent. It’s a smart feature that helps your switches send VLAN traffic … Read more
In our BGP Best Path Selection series, we have gradually explored how BGP makes its routing decisions step by step. So far, we’ve covered the major attributes that influence the path selection — starting from the top of the list: Now that all the major decision points are done, we have reached the final stage … Read more
BGP Path Selection – Understanding “BGP Prefers the Path with the Lowest IGP Metric” So far in our BGP Best Path Selection series, we have explored several decision-making rules that BGP follows- Weight Local Preference Locally Originated AS Path Origin Code MED BGP Prefer eBGP over iBGP Now, it’s time to move to the next … Read more
Inside VTP: Understanding Advertisements, Message Types, and Revision Numbers Introduction In VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP), switches don’t work in isolation – they constantly talk to each other to make sure all VLAN information stays in sync.This coordination happens through VTP Advertisements – special messages that carry VLAN data between switches. However, what really decides which … Read more
Understanding VTP Versions and Modes: A Complete Guide for Network Engineers Managing VLANs across multiple switches can be challenging, especially in large networks. Cisco’s VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) simplifies VLAN management by sharing VLAN configuration information across switches. To use VTP effectively, you need to understand VTP versions and VTP modes, which define how switches … Read more
Understanding VTP (VLAN Trunking Protocol): The Backbone of VLAN Management Introduction Imagine you’re managing a large campus network with dozens of switches, each supporting multiple VLANs.Now, think about the amount of manual work required to create or delete VLANs on every single switch one by one.Sounds exhausting, right? This is where VTP (VLAN Trunking Protocol) … Read more
Learn how VLAN frame tagging works and why it’s essential for multi-switch networks. Understand ISL, DTP, and IEEE 802.1Q tagging protocols with easy explanations, real examples, and Cisco configuration commands. Perfect for network engineers and CCNA learners. When VLANs span across multiple switches, the switches need a way to identify which VLAN each Ethernet frame … Read more
Have you ever thought about how switches in a network keep different types of traffic separate even though all the devices share the same physical cables?That magic happens through VLANs (Virtual Local Area Networks) and VLAN port tagging. VLANs divide one physical network into multiple smaller, logical networks — improving performance, organization, and security.But when … Read more