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Router on a Stick Guide for IT Pros

Router-on-a-stick is a network configuration that connects a router and switch via a single Ethernet link configured as an 802.1q trunk, allowing the router to route traffic between multiple VLANs. An example scenario includes separating VoIP and data networks in a Call Manager Express installation to ensure service stability. The document outlines the steps for configuring both the switch and router to establish this setup, including creating VLANs and trunk ports.

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68 views6 pages

Router on a Stick Guide for IT Pros

Router-on-a-stick is a network configuration that connects a router and switch via a single Ethernet link configured as an 802.1q trunk, allowing the router to route traffic between multiple VLANs. An example scenario includes separating VoIP and data networks in a Call Manager Express installation to ensure service stability. The document outlines the steps for configuring both the switch and router to establish this setup, including creating VLANs and trunk ports.

Uploaded by

Programming Coding
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lab 6

Router on a Stick
What is Router on a stick?

• Router-on-a-stick is a term frequently used to describe a setup up that consists of a


router and switch connected using one Ethernet link configured as an 802.1q trunk
link.
• In this setup, the switch is configured with multiple VLANs and the router performs all
routing between the different networks/VLANs.

EXAMPLE SCENARIO

• A good example of a router-on-a-stick would be a Call Manager Express installation


(CME) router where there is the need to split the VoIP network, consisting of your
Cisco IP Phone devices, from your data network where all workstations and servers are
located.

• Because VoIP implementations require you to separate the data and voice network.
And to route packets between them, you need either a layer 3 switch or a router.

• This configuration ensures availability and stability of the VoIP service, especially
during peak data traffic hours in your network.
Example:

• This example will show you how to configure a Cisco router and switch to create a
trunk link between them and have the router route packets between your VLANs.

f0/4
Vlan 20
f0/1 Lab-2
192.168.1.0/24
f0/5
f0/2 f0/3

Vlan 10
Lab-1
192.168.0.0/24
STEP 1 - SWITCH CONFIGURATION:

• First step is to create the required two VLANs on our Cisco switch and then make VLAN
static assignment for switch parts:
STEP 1- SWITCH CONFIGURATION:

• Next, we need to create the trunk port that will be connected to the router. For this
purpose, we've selected port fastethernet 0/1.

1) Set the specific port to trunk mode in order to use the 802.1q protocol

2) Enable the spanning-tree portfast trunk function to ensure the port will forward packets
immediately when connected to a device e.g router.

Note: The spanning-tree portfast trunk command should never be used on ports that
connect to another switch
STEP 2 - ROUTER CONFIGURATION:
We need to follow a similar configuration for our router to enable communication with our
switch and allow all VLAN traffic to pass through and route as necessary.
While we create the trunk port on one physical interface, we are required to create a
sub-interface for each VLAN.

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