What is a VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network)?
Hey Alex
A VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) facilitates the creation of distinct broadcast domains within a network, enhancing organizational efficiency. By segregating devices into different VLANs based on functions, departments, or project teams, it mitigates the broadcast traffic, ensuring smoother network operations. The encapsulation of traffic at the data-link layer with a VLAN ID enables the delineation of traffic, allowing network devices to interact as if they were on the same physical network even when separated geographically. Moreover, VLANs are instrumental in enforcing security policies, as they can restrict interactions between devices across different VLANs, thereby limiting the exposure to potential internal threats. Lastly, VLANs contribute to simplified management and troubleshooting, providing a structured approach to network configuration and isolation of issues, which is particularly beneficial in large or complex network environments.