VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP)
Administration of network environments that consists of many interconnected switches is complicated. Cisco has developed a propriety solution to manage VLANs across such networks using the VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) to exchange VLAN configuration information between switches. VTP uses Layer 2 trunk frames to exchange VLAN information so that the VLAN configuration stays consistent throughout a network. VTP also manages the additions, deletions, and name changes of VLANs across multiple switches from a central point, minimizing misconfigurations and configuration inconsistencies that can cause problems, such as duplicate VLAN names or incorrect VLANtype settings.
VTP is organized into management domains or areas with common VLAN requirements. A switch can belong to only one VTP domain. Switches in different VTP domains do not share VTP information. Switches in a VTP domain advertise several attributes to their domain neighbors. Each advertisement contains information about the VTP management domain, VTP configuration revision number, known VLANs, and specific VLAN parameters.
The VTP process begins with VLAN creation on a switch called a VTP server. VTP floods advertisements throughout the VTP domain every 5 minutes, or whenever there is a change in VLAN configuration. The VTP advertisement includes a configuration revision number, VLAN names and numbers, and information about which switches have ports assigned to each VLAN. By configuring the details on one or more VTP server and propagating the information through advertisements, all switches configuration know the names and numbers of all VLANs.
The VTP Configuration Revision Number
Each time a VTP server modifies its VLAN information, it increments the configuration revision number that is sent with the VTP advertisement by 1. The VTP server then sends out a VTP advertisement that includes the new configuration revision number. When a switch receives a VTP advertisement with a larger revision number, it updates its VLAN configuration.