Cisco Switch : Private VLAN’s

Private VLAN’s are a very interesting and mostly used for Network segmentation and fun concept but it can take a little to get your head around, so here goes.

Private VLAN’s split a VLAN into Sub-VLANs, called Primary and Secondary.  Secondary VLAN’s have 2 different types :  Isolated and Community.

In this example the Primary VLAN is 100 and the Secondary VLAN’s are Isolated VLAN 200, Community VLAN 300 and Community VLAN 400.

An important port to know about before beginning is called the Promiscuous Port. It acts like a Gateway that routes Primary and Secondary-VLAN traffic, and all Secondary-VLAN traffic must pass through the Promiscuous Port.

Isolated ports can only talk to the Primary VLAN through a Promiscuous Port (Uplink/Gateway Port)

Community ports can talk to each other, if they are in the same Community Secondary-VLAN.

VTP must be set to transparent mode for Private VLAN’s to work.

Here is how to configure Private VLAN’s

First we need to configure the Primary VLAN

TPW-SW1(config)#vlan 100
TPW-SW1(config-vlan)#private-vlan primary 
TPW-SW1(config-vlan)#exit

Configure the Isolated VLAN

TPW-SW1(config)#vlan 200
TPW-SW1(config-vlan)#private-vlan isolated 
TPW-SW1(config-vlan)#exit

Configure the Community VLAN’s

TPW-SW1(config)#vlan 300
TPW-SW1(config-vlan)#private-vlan community 
TPW-SW1(config-vlan)#exit

TPW-SW1(config)#vlan 400
TPW-SW1(config-vlan)#private-vlan community 
TPW-SW1(config-vlan)#exit

Now we have to associate the Primary VLAN to the Isolated and Community VLAN’s

TPW-SW1(config)#vlan 100 
TPW-SW1(config-vlan)#private-vlan association 200 
TPW-SW1(config-vlan)#private-vlan association 300
TPW-SW1(config-vlan)#private-vlan association 400

This is where we configure for fa0/1 as the Promiscuous Port

TPW-SW1(config-if)# int fa0/1 
TPW-SW1(config-if)#switchport mode private-vlan promiscuous

We have to tell the Promiscuous Port that it is associated with the  (Isolated and Community VLAN’s) that it can also see and talk to them appropriately.

TPW-SW1(config-if)#switchport private-vlan host-association 100 200,300,400
TPW-SW1(config-if)#exit

Configure fa0/2 and fa0/7 as the Isolated port, but also about its Primary VLAN 100

TPW-SW1(config-if)# int fa0/2 
TPW-SW1(config-if)#switchport mode private-vlan host
TPW-SW1(config-if)#switchport private-vlan host-association 100 200
TPW-SW1(config-if)#exit

TPW-SW1(config-if)# int fa0/7 
TPW-SW1(config-if)#switchport mode private-vlan host 
TPW-SW1(config-if)#switchport private-vlan host-association 100 200 
TPW-SW1(config-if)#exit

Configure fa0/3 and 4 as community ports, but also about its Primary VLAN 100

TPW-SW1(config)#int range fa0/3 - 4 
TPW-SW1(config-if-range)# 
TPW-SW1(config-if-range)# switchport mode private-vlan host
TPW-SW1(config-if-range)# switchport private-vlan host-association 100 300
TPW-SW1(config-if-range)# exit

Configure fa0/5 and 6 as community ports, but also about its Primary VLAN 100

TPW-SW1(config)#int range fa0/5 - 6 
TPW-SW1(config-if-range)# 
TPW-SW1(config-if-range)# switchport mode private-vlan host
TPW-SW1(config-if-range)# switchport private-vlan host-association 100 400
TPW-SW1(config-if-range)# exit

You can confirm the Private VLAN’s are setup correctly with the following show command

TPW-SW1#show vlan private-vlan

Primary      Secondary    Type                Ports
-------      ---------    -----------------   ----------------------------------
100          200          isolated            fa0/2, fa0/7
100          300          community           fa0/3, fa0/4
100          400          community           fa0/5, fa0/6

Here is the topology of what was just built.

Here is a table of what can talk to each other

PC

Computer PC1 – Isolated – VLAN 200 PC2 – Isolated – VLAN 200 PC3 – Community VLAN 300 PC4 – Community VLAN 300 PC5 – Community VLAN 400 PC6 – Community VLAN 400
PC1 – Isolated – VLAN 200 YES NO NO NO NO NO
PC2 – Isolated – VLAN 200 NO YES NO NO NO NO
PC3 – Community VLAN 300 NO NO YES YES NO NO
PC4 – Community VLAN 300 NO NO YES YES NO NO
PC5 – Community VLAN 400 NO NO NO NO YES YES
PC6 – Community VLAN 300 NO NO NO NO YES YES