RFC 3069 (rfc3069) - Page 1 of 7
VLAN Aggregation for Efficient IP Address Allocation
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
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