IP subnet address on multiple port-based VLAN configuration

For a Ruckus device to route between port-based VLANs, you must add a virtual routing interface to each VLAN. Generally, you also configure a unique IP subnet address on each virtual routing interface. For example, if you have three port-based VLANs, you add a virtual routing interface to each VLAN, then add a separate IP subnet address to each virtual routing interface. The IP address on each of the virtual routing interfaces must be in a separate subnet. The Ruckus device routes Layer 3 traffic between the subnets using the subnet addresses.

NOTE
This feature applies only to Layer 3 Switches.
NOTE
Before using the method described in this section, refer to VLAN groups and virtual routing interface group . You might be able to achieve the results you want using the methods in that section instead.

The following figure shows an example of this type of configuration.

Figure 88  Multiple port-based VLANs with separate protocol addresses

As shown in this example, each VLAN has a separate IP subnet address. If you need to conserve IP subnet addresses, you can configure multiple VLANs with the same IP subnet address, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 89  Multiple port-based VLANs with the same protocol address

Each VLAN still requires a separate virtual routing interface. However, all three VLANs now use the same IP subnet address.

In addition to conserving IP subnet addresses, this feature allows containment of Layer 2 broadcasts to segments within an IP subnet. For ISP environments where the same IP subnet is allocated to different customers, placing each customer in a separate VLAN allows all customers to share the IP subnet address, while at the same time isolating them from one another Layer 2 broadcasts.

NOTE
You can provide redundancy to an IP subnet address that contains multiple VLANs using a pair of Ruckus Layer 3 Switches configured for Ruckus VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol).

The Ruckus device performs proxy Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) for hosts that want to send IP traffic to hosts in other VLANs that are sharing the same IP subnet address. If the source and destination hosts are in the same VLAN, the Ruckus device does not need to use ARP:

  • If a host attached to one VLAN sends an ARP message for the MAC address of a host in one of the other VLANs using the same IP subnet address, the Ruckus device performs a proxy ARP on behalf of the other host. The Ruckus device then replies to the ARP by sending the virtual routing interface MAC address. The Ruckus device uses the same MAC address for all virtual routing interfaces.When the host that sent the ARP then sends a unicast packet addressed to the virtual routing interface MAC address, the device switches the packet on Layer 3 to the destination host on the VLAN.
NOTE
If the Ruckus device ARP table does not contain the requested host, the Ruckus device forwards the ARP request on Layer 2 to the same VLAN as the one that received the ARP request. Then the device sends an ARP for the destination to the other VLANs that are using the same IP subnet address.
  • If the destination is in the same VLAN as the source, the Ruckus device does not need to perform a proxy ARP.

To configure multiple VLANs to use the same IP subnet address:

  • Configure each VLAN, including adding tagged or untagged ports.
  • Configure a separate virtual routing interface for each VLAN, but do not add an IP subnet address to more than one of the virtual routing interfaces.
  • Configure the virtual routing interfaces that do not have the IP subnet address to "follow" the virtual routing interface that does have the address.

To configure the VLANs shown in Figure 89, you could enter the following commands. 

device(config)# vlan 1 by port
device(config-vlan-1)# untagged ethernet 1/1/1
device(config-vlan-1)# tagged ethernet 1/1/8
device(config-vlan-1)# router-interface ve 1

Syntax: router-interface ve number

The commands above configure port-based VLAN 1. The VLAN has one untagged port (1/1/1) and a tagged port (1/1/8). In this example, all three VLANs contain port 1/1/8 so the port must be tagged to allow the port to be in multiple VLANs. You can configure VLANs to share a Layer 3 protocol interface regardless of tagging. A combination of tagged and untagged ports is shown in this example to demonstrate that sharing the interface does not change other VLAN features.

Notice that each VLAN still requires a unique virtual routing interface.

The following commands configure port-based VLANs 2 and 3. 

device(config-vlan-1)# vlan 2 by port
device(config-vlan-2)# untagged ethernet 1/1/2
device(config-vlan-2)# tagged ethernet 1/1/8
device(config-vlan-2)# router-interface ve 2
device(config-vlan-2)# vlan 3 by port
device(config-vlan-3)# untagged ethernet 1/1/5 to 1/1/6
device(config-vlan-3)# tagged ethernet 1/1/8
device(config-vlan-3)# router-interface ve 3

The following commands configure an IP subnet address on virtual routing interface 1. 

device(config-vlan-3)# interface ve 1
device(config-vif-1)# ip address 10.0.0.1/24

The following commands configure virtual routing interfaces 2 and 3 to "follow" the IP subnet address configured on virtual routing interface 1. 

device(config-vif-1)# interface ve 2
device(config-vif-2)# ip follow ve 1
device(config-vif-2)# interface ve 3
device(config-vif-3)# ip follow ve 1
Parent topic: VLANs