RFC 3069 (rfc3069) - Page 1 of 7

VLAN Aggregation for Efficient IP Address Allocation

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Network Working Group                                       D. McPherson
Request for Comments: 3069                          Amber Networks, Inc.
Category: Informational                                         B. Dykes
                                                         Onesecure, Inc.
                                                           February 2001


          VLAN Aggregation for Efficient IP Address Allocation

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document introduces the concept of Virtual Local Area Network
   (VLAN) aggregation as it relates to IPv4 address allocation.  A
   mechanism is described by which hosts that reside in the same
   physical switched infrastructure, but separate virtual broadcast
   domains, are addressed from the same IPv4 subnet and share a common
   default gateway IP address, thereby removing the requirement of a
   dedicated IP subnet for each virtual Local Area Network (LAN) or
   Metropolitan Area Network (MAN).

   Employing such a mechanism significantly decreases IPv4 address
   consumption in virtual LANs and MANs.  It may also ease
   administration of IPv4 addresses within the network.

1. Introduction

   The VLAN [802.1Q] aggregation technique described in this document
   provides a mechanism by which hosts that reside within the same
   physical switched infrastructure, but separate virtual broadcast
   domains, may be addressed from the same IPv4 subnet and may share a
   common default gateway IPv4 address.

   Such a mechanism provides several advantages over traditional IPv4
   addressing architectures employed in large switched LANs today.  The
   primary advantage, that of IPv4 address space conservation, can be
   realized when considering the diagram in Figure 1:





McPherson & Dykes            Informational
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