VLAN span across Point-to-Point link

[siddhartham]

We are planning to get a 500 Mbps point to point Ethernet connection  between HQ and DR. Can we just put 2 switches on either side and  configure them as trunk ports and Span the VLANs across the 2 sites? Do  we have to give any special instructions to the service provider in this  case?

Siddhartha       

[Peter Paluch]

Hello Siddhartha,

There are two questions to be answered by your service provider:

1. Does your SP allow carrying tagged traffic through his network? In order to carry VLANs over this link, the SP must accept tagged traffic and carry it without modification.
2. Because the tagged frames can grow up to 1522B in size, is the provider capable of carrying customer frames of the size up to 1522 bytes?

If these two requirements are met by your SP then I believe you could use the point-to-poin link as a fine trunk. Please note that additional L2 protocols like VTP, STP etc. may still not be passed through this link, therefore if you need these protocols as well, you have to ask your SP about them.

Best regards,

Peter

[siddhartham]

Thanks Peter, will check with the SP

Siddhartha

[Elton Babcock]

Research Cisco pseudowire. We are using this between our HQ and DR site. Works well and allows us to pass our VLANs over this connection.

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

[siddhartham]

Thanks Elton, I considered usign it but it seems like we will need  high end routers(12000 or 7200) for that. We currently have 2951s on the  edge on both sides. Which model equipment you are using?

Siddhartha

[vik]

Have you tried Elton's suggestion on the 2951? It requires Data License. You could look at the below link:

http://blog.ine.com/2008/01/28/poor-mans-vpls/

Thanks,

Vivek.