Control ports and free ports

A port in a topology group can be a control port or a free port:

• A control port is a port in the master VLAN and, therefore, is controlled by the Layer 2 protocol configured in the master VLAN. The same port in all the member VLANs and bridge-domains is controlled by the master VLAN‘s Layer 2 protocol. Each member VLAN and bridge-domain must contain all of the control ports. All other ports in the member VLAN and bridge-domain are "free ports."
• Free ports are not controlled by the master VLAN‘s Layer 2 protocol. The master VLAN can contain free ports. (In this case, the Layer 2 protocol is disabled on those ports.) In addition, any ports in the member VLANs and bridge-domains that are not also in the master VLAN are free ports.

Note

Because free ports are not controlled by the master port‘s Layer 2 protocol, they are always in the forwarding state.