Lab Exercise 2: Cisco Catalyst 3550 VLAN Tunneling

by Chuck Larrieu

Wired Buildings, Inc. has newly constructed business parks pre-wired for VLAN and Internet access. Each tenant has the option of using a shared infrastructure for telephone and data connectivity. Customer A and Customer B are moving into space in the same two buildings. Coincidentally, each uses the same VLANs and the same subnet numbers. Neither customer wants to renumber. Instead, they will connect their own routers to the Wired Buildings, Inc. Building Distribution Frame -- essentially the main closet in each building, which connects to the IDF downstream and the MDF upstream switches. Each customer expects Wired Buildings, Inc. to transport their traffic with no chance of errant packets being delivered to other tenants. It is important to both customers that they are able to see their own directly connected equipment. They are not interested in viewing any connectivity information to Wired Buildings, Inc. equipment. As the Network Architect for Wired Buildings, you are charged with the task of providing a workable solution.