# Lab 3 - Router-on-a-stick

Users are complaining they can't access servers in other departments. Deploy a router-on-a-stick solution to enable communication between VLANs

Tip: Individual topology files are available in the diagrams folder on my Github

# Configuration Tasks

# VLAN Configuration

Create and configure the following VLANs on both switches:

  • VLAN 10 - Sales Department
  • VLAN 20 - Engineering Department
  • VLAN 99 - Network Management

# Host & Access Port Configuration

Host VLAN Assignment IP Address
Bob 10 (Sales) 10.1.10.10/24
Alice 20 (Engineering) 10.1.20.10/24
Steve 99 (IT) 10.1.99.100/24
Linda 10 (Sales) 10.1.10.20/24

# Switchport Configuration

  • Configure the inter-switch link (Eth0/3 on both switches) as an 802.1Q trunk to carry only VLANs 10,20, and 99.
  • Configure VLAN 99 SVI for sea-a1-asw1 - 10.1.99.10/24
  • Configure VLAN 99 SVI for sea-b1-asw1 - 10.1.99.20/24

# Router Configuration

  • Configure gateways as subinterfaces for inter-VLAN routing:
    • Eth1.10 with IP 10.1.10.1/24
    • Eth1.20 with IP 10.1.20.1/24
    • Eth2.99 with IP 10.1.99.1/24
  • Configure Loopback0 with IP 10.255.1.1/32

# Success Criteria

  • Bob and Alice can ping each other (Inter-VLAN routing functioning)
  • All hosts can ping their respective gateways
  • Ping Loopback0 from Linda
  • Run sudo tcpdump -i eth1 -n on Bob. Ping Bob from Linda and Alice.
  • Configure router with SSH access and local user account other than admin, SSH to it from Steve

# Verification Commands


# Show VLAN configuration
show vlan [brief]

# Show trunk interfaces and allowed VLANs
show interfaces trunk

# Show interface status and mode
show interfaces status

# Show MAC address table
show mac address-table [dynamic]
# Show ARP table
show ip arp

# Show routing table
show ip route

# Questions to Explore

  • Why does router-on-a-stick use sub-interfaces instead of separate physical connections?
  • What kind of routes are each subnet in the routing table?
  • What happens to the VLAN tags when traffic reaches the router sub-interface?
  • Why do hosts need default gateways configured now when they didn't before?
  • What's the purpose of an ARP table? Where is it found?
  • Imagine the scenario: Steve pings Loopback0 on sea-mdf-r1, when the router goes to send the return traffic how will the L2 & L3 headers look? What does the router use to build it?
  • When you ran tcpdump on Bob, what types of traffic did you see?

EOS 4.34.1F - Layer 2 Configuration | Virtual VLANs (VLANS)