Lap top as a VLAN aware device

[CK]

Hello,

Can any one suggest how can I make my laptop a VLAn aware device. Is there any application or NIC that can do it. I am running Windows XP.

Cheers,

CK

 

[rodney_ws]

Based on your question, I think you may be confused about what a VLAN is... to cover that I sugguestion you use Google...

To answer your question... no NIC (ethernet, wi-fi, ext) will ever be aware it's actually connected to VLAN instead of a LAN... it just won't know... that's the beauty of having a VLAN.

GE Medical Services requires that the hospital I work at have all of its equipment located on a seperate network... not wanting to buy a 2nd Cisco 4503 switch, my employer chose to setup a VLAN to isolate their equipment... that particular switch actually operates at the network layer of the OSI model... technically making it a router. In order to keep our traffice from going down their wires, we have two VLANs setup and a route statement between the two.

To repeat... I still think you should use Google next time.

 

[xiii]

I don't mean to be nitpicky, but your remark on the switch being a router is off. A layer 3 switch is only that, a layer 3 switch. It doesn't run routing protocols like RIP, OSPF, IGRP, etc... A layer 3 switch is just a switch that makes decisions based on IP addresses as opposed to MAC addresses.

 

[rodney_ws]

Actually our Cisco 4503 switch does in fact support routing protocols as well as static routes.

 

[xiii]

I'll go ahead and shut myself up then. Gotta know when one is wrong.

 

[rodney_ws]

Here's a command line exert from a Cisco 4503 Switch here where I work...

CORE(config)#router ?
bgp Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
egp Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP)
eigrp Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)
igrp Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP)
isis ISO IS-IS
iso-igrp IGRP for OSI networks
mobile Mobile routes
odr On Demand stub Routes
ospf Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)
rip Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
static Static routes

Not trying to beat a dead horse with this one... just wanting to validate I'm right and keep the information on this forum as accurate as possible.

 

[VTOLfreak]

You can configure a switch to use VLAN-tagging on each packet and thus send multiple VLAN's trough 1 port on the switch.
But this is normally done to connect to other VLAN switches wich in turn separate the traffic again.

The Software way

Theoreticly you could use an application wich separates the traffic according to these VLAN-tags and presents the OS with a virtual NIC for each VLAN.
However the only application wich I have ever seen that can do this is VMware ESX Server.
In VMware's case it is used to connect virtual machines to separated networks but do it over 1 physical connection. (Instead of giving each virtual machine its own real NIC)
( http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/#_tabfeatures )

You could configure VMware ESX server to present a virtual machine with multiple virtual NIC's each connected to a different VLAN. Then all these VLAN's can be trunked over the real NIC using vlan-tagging.
The downside to this all: You are now running your OS inside a virtual machine.

The hardware option

There are NIC's wich are VLAN aware. Example:
Every Intel NIC that can use the Intel PROset drive suite.
Problem is that this is not an option for you as you are using a laptop.

Screenshot:

This would do what you are asking however you need an Intel NIC with can use the PROset driver.
You can download the PROset driver free from the intel website.
The screenshot is from an onboard Intel PRO1000CT NIC on an 875P mobo.
So basicly every NIC Intel makes can do this.

To answer your question... no NIC (ethernet, wi-fi, ext) will ever be aware it's actually connected to VLAN instead of a LAN... it just won't know... that's the beauty of having a VLAN.

I think your still stuck in 1999... Time to wake up and catch up...

FYI: VLAN tagging is known as IEEE 802.1Q:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.1Q

However setting this all up is a manual process unless your switch also supports GVRP.
GVRP will "spread" the VLAN configuration to other switches making it an automatic process.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GVRP

Please quit bashing on the thread starter. His question does make sense.
If you needed to connect a OS to multiple VLAN's using only 1 NIC you would be asking thesame question.

 

[dthomason119]

A layer three switch can route as well. I'm a network engineer for an equity trading firm and we have several layer 3 switch that do all the routing. This layer would be the core layer of the three layered cisco model.

 

[njones 24]

just a quick question ive setup vlan capabilities on my laptops and tagged it to 999. I did this with realtek driver update and a realtek vlan mgmt program, this was so i was able to use my computer on another network with vlan turned on to 999, but not am unable to return to a normal network without tagged vlan traffic. Anyone know how to resolve this without deleting the driver and mgmt program?