VTP v2 and v3 [VLAN TRUNKING PROTOCOL]

[CCNA TO CCIE] SHORT NOTES TO REMEMBER “VTP”

VLAN Trunk Protocol (VTP) reduces administration in a switched network. When you configure a
new VLAN on one VTP server, the VLAN is distributed through all switches in the domain. This
reduces the need to configure the same VLAN everywhere.

VTP is a Cisco-proprietary protocol that is available on most of the Cisco Catalyst series products.

VTP Modes

You can configure a switch to operate in any one of these VTP modes:

• Server—In VTP server mode, you can create, modify, and delete VLANs and specify other
configuration parameters, such as VTP version and VTP pruning, for the entire VTP domain.
VTP servers advertise their VLAN configuration to other switches in the same VTP domain
and synchronize their VLAN configuration with other switches based on advertisements
received over trunk links. VTP server is the default mode.
• Client—VTP clients behave the same way as VTP servers, but you cannot create, change, or
delete VLANs on a VTP client.
• Transparent—VTP transparent switches do not participate in VTP. A VTP transparent switch
does not advertise its VLAN configuration and does not synchronize its VLAN configuration
based on received advertisements, but transparent switches do forward VTP advertisements
that they receive out their trunk ports in VTP Version 2.
• Off (configurable only in CatOS switches)—In the three described modes, VTP
advertisements are received and transmitted as soon as the switch enters the management
domain state. In the VTP off mode, switches behave the same as in VTP transparent mode
with the exception that VTP advertisements are not forwarded.

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VTP V2

VTP V2 is not much different than VTP V1. The major difference is that VTP V2 introduces support for
Token Ring VLANs. If you use Token Ring VLANs, you must enable VTP V2. Otherwise, there is no
reason to use VTP V2. Changing the VTP version from 1 to 2 will not cause a switch to reload.

VTP Password

If you configure a password for VTP, you must configure the password on all switches in the VTP
domain. The password must be the same password on all those switches. The VTP password that
you configure is translated by algorithm into a 16-byte word (MD5 value) that is carried in all
summary-advertisement VTP packets.

VTP Pruning

VTP ensures that all switches in the VTP domain are aware of all VLANs. However, there are
occasions when VTP can create unnecessary traffic. All unknown unicasts and broadcasts in a VLAN
are flooded over the entire VLAN. All switches in the network receive all broadcasts, even in
situations in which few users are connected in that VLAN. VTP pruning is a feature that you use in
order to eliminate or prune this unnecessary traffic.

VTP Rules:
1. By default, all switches are configured to be VTP servers
2. This configuration is suitable for small-scale networks in which the size of the VLAN information
is small and the information is easily stored in all switches (in NVRAM)
3. All network devices in a VTP domain must run the same VTP version.
4. When you enable or disable VTP pruning on a VTP server, VTP pruning for the entire
management domain is enabled or disabled.
5. VTP version 1 and VTP version 2 do not propagate configuration information for extended-range
VLANs (VLAN numbers 1006 to 4094). You must configure extended-range VLANs manually on
each network device.
6. VTP version 3 supports extended-range VLANs (VLAN numbers 1006 to 4094). If you convert
from VTP version 3 to VTP version 2, the VLANs in the range 1006 to 4094 are removed from VTP
control.
7. If there is insufficient DRAM available for use by VTP, the VTP mode changes to transparent.

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VTP Configurations:

This example shows how to configure the switch as a VTP server:

Router# configuration terminal

Router(config)# vtp mode server
Setting device to VTP SERVER mode.
Router(config)# vtp domain lab_network
Setting VTP domain name to lab_network
Router(config)# end
Router#

This example shows how to configure the switch as a VTP client:

Router# configuration terminal

Router(config)# vtp mode client
Setting device to VTP CLIENT mode.
Router(config)# exit
Router#

This example shows how to disable VTP on the switch:

Router# configuration terminal

Router(config)# vtp mode transparent
Setting device to VTP TRANSPARENT mode.
Router(config)# end
Router#

This example shows how to disable VTP on the switch and to disable VTP advertisement forwarding:

Router# config terminal

Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
Router(config)# vtp mode off
Setting device to VTP OFF mode.
Router(config)# exit
Router#

VERIFICATIONS:

show vtp status

show vtp counters
show vtp interface
show vtp interface gigabitethernet 3/5
show vtp status | include Pruni

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VTP V3

VTP version 3 is disabled by default. You can enable version 3 in global configuration mode only.

This example shows one way to enable VTP version 3:

Router# configure terminal

Router(config)# vtp version 3
Router(config)# spanning-tree extend system-id
Router(config)#

Here are some of the new additions to VTP version 3:

VTP primary server: only the primary server is able to create / modify / delete VLANs. This is a
great change as you can no longer “accidently” wipe all VLANs like you could with VTP version 1
or 2.
Extended VLANs: you can now synchronize VLANs in the extended VLAN range (1006 – 4094).
Private VLANs: if you have VLANs that are configured as private VLANs then you can
synchronize them with VTPv3.
RSPAN VLANs: remote SPAN VLANs can now be synchronized.
MST Support: one of the problems of MST is that you had to configure each switch manually.
With VTPv3, MST configurations are synchronized.
Authentication improvements: VTPv3 has more secure methods for authentication.
VTP mode o×: If you didn’t want to use VTP for version 1 or 2 then you had to use the
transparent mode. VTPv3 can be disabled globally or per interface.
Compatibility: VTP version 3 is compatible with version 2, not version 1.

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