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I have a 3 site network: one is a data center colo and the other two are offices. The new Metro Ethernet service we just installed requires the colo site's traffic destined to the offices to be in VLAN 10 or 20 depending on the office.

Unfortunately, they picked the VLANs without my input and they overlap with the VLANs that I am currently using. VLAN 10 is being used in the colo and vlan 20 is being used in one of the offices.

Is there anything I can do to get this working without having to renumber my VLANs and without making the carrier renumber theirs? From what I've read, my switches don't appear to support transaltional VLANs.

The colo site has a Cisco Catalyst 3560-X switch with ipservices iOS 15.0(2)SE and the offices are running 3560/3750's with ipbase iOS 12.2.something.

2 Answers 2

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Depending on the actual "Metro Ethernet" service that your carrier is providing, you have several possible solutions. I'll address what I see as the most likely scenario, and some of the solutions in that scenario.

Your carrier is probably using Q-in-Q tagging, and your local VLANs are irrelevant. (See the Wikipedia page on 802.1ad for info on Q-in-Q, or this Cisco config guide on VLAN tunneling.)

This situation, where the carrier is using Q-in-Q, is usually the case in my experience. They will accept whatever VLAN's you send, and then apply Q-in-Q tagging and send the traffic across their network. So inside the carrier network, your traffic destined towards Site-A could be tagged with VLAN 10. When the frame arrives at the PE equipment, it will have that additional VLAN tag stripped, and be forwarded onto your equipment with the original VLAN tagging intact.

It is possible that the carrier is utilizing your applied VLAN tags to direct the traffic. (i.e. VLAN 10 for Site-A and VLAN 20 for Site-B.)

  1. The easiest solution: Tell your carrier that they have to choose different VLANs for this traffic engineering purpose. You are the customer!! Their sales-engineers should have gathered the appropriate information to make sure there wasn't overlap before designing this solution/service for you. Don't accept the circuits until they resolve their issue. IF they are using Q-in-Q, they only need to know which VLAN goes to which location for administrative purposes, not for any technical reason, and should be able to change their configuration.

  2. More complicated solution: Investigate Q-in-Q tagging/VLAN tunneling, for yourself. Depending on your hardware/licensed capabilities, you could maintain your locally significant VLAN tags, and then slap another tag on the frame for the carrier. Then when the frame arrives at your destination, strip the extra tag off, then send the frame on it's way based on the original VLAN.


With all of that stated, there may be some other scenario where they HAVE to use VLANs 10 and 20. Ask your carrier for the explanation as to why this is the case.

If your carrier is difficult to work with in this scenario, (won't provide an explanation, or work around your local VLAN structure) imagine what they'll be like during a service outage.

Always use the install process to test your service provider! If customer service isn't on their radar, you should be leery of their services. That is to say, if they perform poorly on the install, you usually have more of the same "quality service" to look forward to for the length of your entire contract.

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  • I don't think QinQ will work because pockets from the colo to site A need to be VLAN 10 and colo to site B is VLAN 20. From what I'm reading about QinQ, the doesn't seem to be a way to selectively apply a tag. But the rest of your answer is spot on: the carrier should fix it. I was hoping for a solution I could apply tonight, even if only temporarily.
    – longneck
    Jul 22, 2013 at 1:01
  • Maybe I'm misunderstanding. Is the carrier requiring you to use VLAN 10 for Colo-to-Site-A traffic? Or is VLAN 10 your original VLAN for that traffic, and the carrier is asking you to use VLAN 10 for something else. ---- If the first scenario, you could use Q-in-Q to present the requested VLAN 10 tag for Colo-to-Site-A traffic to the carrier. That way, regardless of what your internal VLAN was for this traffic, the carrier sees the outermost tag as VLAN 10. Then once it arrives at Site-A, you pop the outer VLAN 10 tag, leaving your original local VLAN tagging. Basically Q-in-Q-in-Q... :) Jul 22, 2013 at 1:51
  • Yes, the carrier is requiring us to use VLAN 10 for Colo-to-Site-A traffic, and 20 for Colo-to-Site-B.
    – longneck
    Jul 22, 2013 at 11:48
  • I ended up getting the carrier to change the VLAN's. Due to software limitations in the switches, I don't have the necessary features to do it any other way.
    – longneck
    Jul 25, 2013 at 20:07
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With your data Colo to office A - vlan 10 Colo to office B - vlan 20 Vlan 10 used in coloration & 20 in office. As a work around you can ask ISP to give u port with Access mode. Which is to be transported to your switch in access mode, u may modify vlan at Port as per your convenience

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