PVLAN Support over Multiple Switches

A PVLAN can span multiple switches. Private VLAN Switch Components shows a PVLAN that is configured to operate on two switches.

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Private VLAN Support on Multiple Switches
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A PVLAN can span many switches. For simplicity, this example shows only two switches, but you can extend the PVLAN to additional switches by adding connections between the network VLANs in each switch. The ports that connect two PVLAN switches must be configured as regular tagged ports. The network and subscriber VLANs on each switch must be configured with the same tags.

Note

Note

Although using the same VLAN names on all PVLAN switches might make switch management easier, there is no software requirement to match the VLAN names. Only the tags must match.

When a PVLAN is configured on multiple switches, the PVLAN switches function as one PVLAN switch. Subscriber VLAN ports can access the network VLAN ports on any of the PVLAN switches, and non-isolated VLAN ports can communicate with ports in the same VLAN that are located on a different physical switch. An isolated VLAN can span multiple switches and maintain isolation between the VLAN ports.

The network and subscriber VLANs can be extended to other switches that are not configured for the PVLAN (as described in Extending Network and Subscriber VLANs to Other Switches). The advantage to extending the PVLAN is that tag translation and VLAN isolation is supported on the additional switch or switches.