vlan-introduction.tex

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\section{VLAN Introduction}

For those unfamilliar with the concept of a VLAN (Virtual LAN) here is a short
formal specification of what such a thing does.

A switch is a 8-tuple \( \mathcal{S} = (\mathbb{A}, \mathbb{P}, \mathbb{V}, t, v, a, \beta, \epsilon) \)
consisting of
\begin{itemize}
\item a finite set of (MAC) addresses \(\mathbb{A}\),
\item a finite set of physical ports \(\mathbb{P}\),
\item a finite set of VLANs \(\mathbb{V}\),
\item a mapping from VLANs and physical ports to three distinct symbols
  pronounced ``tagged'', ``untagged'' and ``neither'' repectively
  \( t : \mathbb{V} \times \mathbb{P} \rightarrow \{ \tau, \upsilon, \eta \} \),
\item a mapping from VLANs and physical ports to VLANs (Port PVID)\\
  \( v : \mathbb{V} \times \mathbb{P} \rightarrow \mathbb{V} \)
  with \(v(q, p) \mapsto q\) when \(q \neq \epsilon\)
  % When PVID of a port is not member in a VLAN an error is thrown in the web
  % interface
  and \(v(\epsilon, p) \not\mapsto q \) when \( t(q,p) = \eta \),
\item a partial mapping from addresses and VLANs to physical ports (ARP Table)
  \( a : \mathbb{A} \times \mathbb{V} \rightharpoonup \mathbb{P} \) and
\item the broadcast address \(\beta \in \mathbb{A}\)
\item the empty VLAN tag \(\epsilon \in \mathbb{V}\)
\end{itemize}


\paragraph{Definition}
A frame \( \mathcal{F}_\mathcal{S} \)
processed by a switch \(\mathcal{S}\)
is a tuple \( \mathcal{F}_\mathcal{S} = (d, q) \)
consisting of a destination address \(d \in \mathbb{A} \)
and a VLAN tag \( q \in \mathbb{V} \).

% TODO: switch checks if the port is even in the VLAN and discards it if not

When a frame \( \mathcal{F}_\mathcal{S} = (d, q) \)
enters a port \( p \in \mathbb{P}\)
the switch first ensures the frame has a VLAN tag for internal processing
assigned by creating a new frame \( \mathcal{F}_\mathcal{S}^i = (d, q')\)
with \(q' = v(q, p)\).

Next the switch checks if the VLAN is allowed on this port. When
\( v(q, p) = \eta \)
the frame is dropped and processing of this frame is complete.
% This could also be before assigning the PVID because v(ε, p) can only be VLANs
% q that are not t(q, p) = η

\paragraph{Unicast processing}
When the frame's destination address \(d\)
is not the broadcast address the switch first determines the egress port
\(p = a(d, q)\).
If it is not defined the frame is dropped and processing of this frame is
complete. Next the final egress frame is created as in equation
\eqref{eq:egress}. \( \mathcal{F}_{\mathcal{S}, p}^{e} \)
is then transmitted out port \(p\) and processing of this frame is complete.

\begin{equation}\label{eq:egress}
\mathcal{F}_{\mathcal{S}, p}^{e} =
\left\{
  \begin{array}{ll}
     (d,q) & \mbox{if } t(q, p) = \tau \\
     (d, \epsilon) & \mbox{if } t(q, p) = \upsilon\\
  \end{array}
\right.
\end{equation}


\paragraph{Broadcast processing}
When the frame's destination address \( d = \beta \)
the switch creates a new frame for each port
\( p \in \{\, p \mid \forall q.\; t(q, p) \neq \eta \,\} \)
as in equation \eqref{eq:egress}. The frames \( \mathcal{F}_{\mathcal{S}, p}^{e} \)
are then transmitted out each port \(p\)
respectively and processing of this frame is complete.



\end{document}

% \section{Version history}
% Current Version: 2

% When frames are dropped was not considered,
% Arguments to \(v\) were swapped,
% Requirement for port PVIDs to actually be a member of the VLAN added
% Made ARP table a partial function (duh)