Module 4: Inter-VLAN Routing

Switching, Routing and Wireless

Essentials v7.0 (SRWE)
Module Objectives
Module Title: Inter-VLAN Routing

Module Objective: Troubleshoot inter-VLAN routing on Layer 3 devices

Topic Title Topic Objective

Inter-VLAN Routing Operation Describe options for configuring inter-VLAN routing.

Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN
Configure router-on-a-stick inter-VLAN routing.
Routing
Inter-VLAN Routing using Layer 3
Configure inter-VLAN routing using Layer 3 switching.
Switches
Troubleshoot common inter-VLAN configuration
Troubleshoot Inter-VLAN Routing
issues.

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4.1 Inter-VLAN Routing
Operation

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Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
What is Inter-VLAN Routing?
VLANs are used to segment switched Layer 2 networks for a variety of reasons. Regardless of the
reason, hosts in one VLAN cannot communicate with hosts in another VLAN unless there is a router or
a Layer 3 switch to provide routing services.

Inter-VLAN routing is the process of forwarding network traffic from one VLAN to another VLAN.

There are three inter-VLAN routing options:

• Legacy Inter-VLAN routing - This is a legacy solution. It does not scale well.
• Router-on-a-Stick - This is an acceptable solution for a small to medium-sized network.
• Layer 3 switch using switched virtual interfaces (SVIs) - This is the most scalable solution for
medium to large organizations.

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Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
Legacy Inter-VLAN Routing
• The first inter-VLAN routing solution relied on using a router with multiple Ethernet interfaces. Each
router interface was connected to a switch port in different VLANs. The router interfaces served as
the default gateways to the local hosts on the VLAN subnet.
• Legacy inter-VLAN routing using physical interfaces works, but it has a significant limitation. It is
not reasonably scalable because routers have a limited number of physical interfaces. Requiring
one physical router interface per VLAN quickly exhausts the physical interface capacity of a router.
• Note: This method of inter-VLAN routing is no longer implemented in switched networks and is
included for explanation purposes only.

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Inter-VLAN Routing Operation
Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
The ‘router-on-a-stick’ inter-VLAN routing method overcomes the limitation of the legacy inter-VLAN routing
method. It only requires one physical Ethernet interface to route traffic between multiple VLANs on a
network.
• A Cisco IOS router Ethernet interface is configured as an 802.1Q trunk and connected to a trunk port on
a Layer 2 switch. Specifically, the router interface is configured using subinterfaces to identify routable
VLANs.
• The configured subinterfaces are software-based virtual interfaces. Each is associated with a single
physical Ethernet interface. Subinterfaces are configured in software on a router. Each subinterface is
independently configured with an IP address and VLAN assignment. Subinterfaces are configured for
different subnets that correspond to their VLAN assignment. This facilitates logical routing.
• When VLAN-tagged traffic enters the router interface, it is forwarded to the VLAN subinterface. After a
routing decision is made based on the destination IP network address, the router determines the exit
interface for the traffic. If the exit interface is configured as an 802.1q subinterface, the data frames are
VLAN-tagged with the new VLAN and sent back out the physical interface
Note: The router-on-a-stick method of inter-VLAN routing does not scale beyond 50 VLANs.

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4.2 Router-on-a-Stick Inter-
VLAN Routing

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
Router-on-a-Stick Scenario
• In the figure, the R1 GigabitEthernet 0/0/1 interface is
connected to the S1 FastEthernet 0/5 port. The S1
FastEthernet 0/1 port is connected to the S2 FastEthernet
0/1 port. These are trunk links that are required to forward
traffic within and between VLANs.
• To route between VLANs, the R1 GigabitEthernet 0/0/1
interface is logically divided into three subinterfaces, as
shown in the table. The table also shows the three VLANs
that will be configured on the switches.
• Assume that R1, S1, and S2 have initial basic
configurations. Currently, PC1 and PC2 cannot ping each
other because they are on separate networks. Only S1 and
S2 can ping each other, but they but are unreachable by Subinterface VLAN IP Address
PC1 or PC2 because they are also on different networks.
G0/0/1.10 10 [Link]/24
• To enable devices to ping each other, the switches must be
configured with VLANs and trunking, and the router must be G0/0/1.20 20 [Link]/24
configured for inter-VLAN routing.
G0/0/1.30 99 [Link]/24
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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
S1 VLAN and Trunking Configuration
Complete the following steps to configure S1 with VLANs and trunking:
• Step 1. Create and name the VLANs.
• Step 2. Create the management interface.
• Step 3. Configure access ports.
• Step 4. Configure trunking ports.

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
S2 VLAN and Trunking Configuration
The configuration for S2
is similar to S1.

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
R1 Subinterface Configuration
The router-on-a-stick method requires you to create a subinterface for each VLAN to be routed.
A subinterface is created using the interface interface_id subinterface_id global configuration
mode command. The subinterface syntax is the physical interface followed by a period and a
subinterface number. Although not required, it is customary to match the subinterface number
with the VLAN number.
Each subinterface is then configured with the following two commands:
• encapsulation dot1q vlan_id [native] - This command configures the subinterface to
respond to 802.1Q encapsulated traffic from the specified vlan-id. The native keyword
option is only appended to set the native VLAN to something other than VLAN 1.
• ip address ip-address subnet-mask - This command configures the IPv4 address of the
subinterface. This address typically serves as the default gateway for the identified VLAN.
Repeat the process for each VLAN to be routed. Each router subinterface must be assigned an
IP address on a unique subnet for routing to occur. When all subinterfaces have been created,
enable the physical interface using the no shutdown interface configuration command. If the
physical interface is disabled, all subinterfaces are disabled.

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
R1 Subinterface Configuration (Cont.)
In the configuration, the R1
G0/0/1 subinterfaces are
configured for VLANs 10, 20,
and 99.

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
Verify Connectivity Between PC1 and PC2
The router-on-a-stick configuration is complete
after the switch trunk and the router
subinterfaces have been configured. The
configuration can be verified from the hosts,
router, and switch.

From a host, verify connectivity to a host in

another VLAN using the ping command. It is a
good idea to first verify the current host IP
configuration using the ipconfig Windows host
command.

Next, use ping to verify connectivity with PC2

and S1, as shown in the figure.
The ping output successfully confirms inter-
VLAN routing is operating.

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Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing
Router-on-a-Stick Inter-VLAN Routing Verification
In addition to using ping between devices, the following show commands can
be used to verify and troubleshoot the router-on-a-stick configuration.
• show ip route
• show ip interface brief
• show interfaces
• show interfaces trunk

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4.4 Troubleshoot Inter-VLAN
Routing

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Troubleshoot Inter-VLAN Routing
Common Inter-VLAN Issues
There are a number of reasons why an inter-VAN configuration may not work. All are related to
connectivity issues. First, check the physical layer to resolve any issues where a cable might be
connected to the wrong port. If the connections are correct, then use the list in the table for other
common reasons why inter-VLAN connectivity may fail.
Issue Type How to Fix How to Verify

show vlan [brief]

•Create (or re-create) the VLAN if it does not exist.
Missing VLANs show interfaces switchport
•Ensure host port is assigned to the correct VLAN.
ping
•Ensure trunks are configured correctly. show interface trunk
Switch Trunk Port Issues
•Ensure port is a trunk port and enabled. show running-config
•Assign correct VLAN to access port.
show interfaces switchport
•Ensure port is an access port and enabled.
Switch Access Port Issues show running-config interface
•Host is incorrectly configured in the wrong
ipconfig
subnet.
•Router subinterface IPv4 address is incorrectly
Router Configuration show ip interface brief
configured.
Issues show interfaces
•Router subinterface is assigned to the VLAN ID.
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Troubleshoot Inter-VLAN Routing
Troubleshoot Inter-VLAN Routing Scenario

Examples of some of these inter-VLAN routing

problems will now be covered in more detail.
This topology will be used for all of these
issues.

Router R1 Subinterfaces

Subinterface VLAN IP Address

G0/0/0.10 10 [Link]/24

G0/0/0.20 20 [Link]/24

G0/0/0.30 99 [Link]/24

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Troubleshoot Inter-VLAN Routing
Missing VLANs
An inter-VLAN connectivity issue could be
caused by a missing VLAN. The VLAN could be
missing if it was not created, it was accidently
deleted, or it is not allowed on the trunk link.

When a VLAN is deleted, any ports assigned to

that VLAN become inactive. They remain
associated with the VLAN (and thus inactive)
until you assign them to a new VLAN or
recreate the missing VLAN. Recreating the
missing VLAN would automatically reassign the
hosts to it.

Use the show interface interface-

id switchport command to verify the VLAN
membership of the port.
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Troubleshoot Inter-VLAN Routing
Switch Trunk Port Issues
Another issue for inter-VLAN routing includes misconfigured switch ports. In a legacy inter-
VLAN solution, this could be caused when the connecting router port is not assigned to the
correct VLAN.
However, with a router-on-a-stick solution, the most common cause is a misconfigured trunk
port.
• Verify that the port connecting to the router is correctly configured as a trunk link using
the show interface trunk command.
• If that port is missing from the output, examine the configuration of the port with the
show running-config interface X command to see how the port is configured.

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Troubleshoot Inter-VLAN Routing
Switch Access Port Issues
When a problem is suspected with a switch
access port configuration, use verification
commands to examine the configuration and
identify the problem.

A common indicator of this issue is the PC

having the correct address configuration (IP
Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway), but
being unable to ping its default gateway.
• Use the show vlan brief, show interface
X switchport or show running-config
interface X command to verify the
interface VLAN assignment.

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Troubleshoot Inter-VLAN Routing
Router Configuration Issues
Router-on-a-stick configuration problems are usually related to subinterface
misconfigurations.
• Verify the subinterface status using the show ip interface brief command.
• Verify which VLANs each of the subinterfaces is on. To do so, the show
interfaces command is useful but it generates a great deal of additional unrequired
output. The command output can be reduced using IOS command filters. In this
example, use the include keyword to identify that only lines containing the letters
“Gig” or “802.1Q”

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