Inter VLAN
routing using ISL
By Eric and Holly
Overview of ISL
Trunking
Trunking is a way to carry traffic from several VLANs over a
point-to-point link between the two devices.
Router to switch
Switch to switch
Two ways in which Ethernet trunking can be implemented
are:
ISL (Cisco proprietary protocol)
802.1Q (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
standard)
ISL is a Cisco proprietary protocol for interconnecting
multiple switches and maintaining VLAN information as
traffic goes between switches.
ISL provides VLAN capabilities while maintaining full wire
speed performance on Ethernet links in full-duplex or half-
duplex mode.
ISL operates in a point-to-point environment and will
support up to 1000 VLANs.
Differences of ISL/802.1q
ISL
the original packet is encapsulated and an
additional header is added before the frame is
carried over a trunk link.
At the receiving end, the header is removed and
the packet is forwarded to the assigned VLAN
802.1q
The trunking device inserts a four-byte tag into
the original packet and recomputes the Frame
Check Sequence (FCS) before sending the frame
over the trunk link.
When the destination is reached, the tag is
removed and the packet is forwarded to the
ISL Routing
The ISL Frame
Field Descriptions
DA - Destination Address
TYPE - Frame Type
USER - User Defined Bits (TYPE Extension)
SA - Source Address
LEN - Length
AAAA03 - Subnetwork Access Protocol (SNAP) and Logical Link Control
(LLC)
HSA - High Bits of Source Address
VLAN - Destination Virtual LAN ID
BPDU - Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) and Cisco Discovery Protocol
(CDP) Indicator
INDX - Index
RES - Reserved for Token Ring and Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
ENCAP FRAME - Encapsulated Frame
FCS - Frame Check Sequence
Configuring Trunking
Port
Switch1#configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with
CNTL/Z.
Switch1(config)#int fastEthernet 0/1
Switch1(config-if)#switchport mode trunk
Enter the trunking encapsulation as either isl or dot1q
Switch1(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation isl
Switch1(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
In the case of 2950 switches, the above two switchport commands are
not used. !--- 2950 switches only support 802.1q encapsulation, which
is the configured automatically !--- when trunking is enabled on the
interface by using the switchport mode trunk command.
Switch1(config-if)#switchport trunk allowed vlan all
Switch1(config-if)#exit
Router configuration
c2600(config)#int fastEthernet 0/0.1
c2600(config-subif)#encapsulation isl 1
c2600(config-subif)#ip address 10.10.10.1 255.255.255.0
c2600(config-subif)#exit
c2600(config)#int fastEthernet 0/0.2
c2600(config-subif)#encapsulation isl 2
c2600(config-subif)#ip address 10.10.11.1 255.255.255.0
c2600(config-subif)#exit
Debug and Show
Commands
Certain show commands are supported by the Output
Interpreter tool, which allows you to view an analysis of
show command output.
On the Catalyst 2900XL/3500XL/2950 switches:
show int {FastEthernet | GigabitEthernet}
<module/port> switchport
show vlan
show vtp status
