Viewing VLAN Trunk States

The VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) is a Cisco-proprietary method for communicating VLAN information across switch ports between Catalyst switches. Other solutions to the same problem include the non-proprietary 802.1Q. NetMRI supports and reports upon both varieties of VLAN trunking depending upon the switch vendor.

The VLAN Trunks page (Device Viewer > Switch > VLAN Trunks) presents all ports on the current switch that have 802.1Q or VTP configured in some way, whether the protocol is in operation or is simply enabled. The complete list of interfaces in the current switch device appears, showing both the Dynamic State (on, off, or auto) and the Dynamic Status of each port (trunking or notTrunking). Should a port be set as a VLAN trunk, its Dynamic Status will show trunking. The VLAN Trunks page also lists links for each Peer switch and Peer Interface.

Clicking the link for the trunking interface in the VLAN Trunks list displays the Interface Viewer. Its VLAN Name listing appears as TRUNKING, along with the peer switch name, the neighbor MAC address (not the MAC for the neighboring interface), and the neighboring port ID.