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Cisco CCNP / BCMSN Exam Tutorial: Dynamic VLANs and VMPS |
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Knowledge of Dynamic VLANs and VMPS is important in your
efforts to pass the BCMSN exam and earn your CCNP, and it's
also a great skill to have for your networking career.
As a CCNA and CCNP candidate, you know how and why to configure
static VLANs. Static VLANs can be a powerful tool for reducing
unnecessary broadcast and multicast traffic, but if hosts
are moved from one switch port to another, you've got to make
those changes manually on the switch. With Dynamic VLANs,
the changes are made - how else? - dynamically.
The actual configuration of dynamic VLANs is out of the scope
of the BCMSN exam, but as a CCNP candidate you need to know
the basics of VMPS - a VLAN Membership Policy Server.
Using VMPS results in port VLAN membership changes being
performed dynamically, because the port's VLAN membership
is decided by the source MAC address of the device connected
to that port. (Yet another reason that the first value a switch
looks at on an incoming frame is the source MAC address.)
In my home lab network, I've got a host connected to switch
port fast0/1 that resides in VLAN 12. What if we had to move
Host 1's connection to the switch to port 0/6? With static
VLANs, we'd have to connect to the switch, configure the port
as an access port, and then place the port into VLAN 12. With
VMPS, the only thing we'd have to do is reconnect the cable
to port 0/6, and the VMPS would dynamically place that port
into VLAN 12.
I urge you to do additional reading regarding VMPS. Use your
favorite search engine for the term configuring vmps and you'll
quickly find some great official Cisco documentation on this
topic.
To review, the VLAN membership of a host is decided by one
of two factors. With static VLANs, the host's VLAN membership
is the VLAN to which its switch port has been assigned. With
dynamic VLANs, it is dependent upon the host's MAC address.
About the Author:
Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage,
home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study
Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass
The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit
the website and download your free copies. You can also get
FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNA
exam with The Bryant Advantage!
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