Metro Ethernet

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A Metro Ethernet is a computer network based on the Ethernet standard and which covers a metropolitan area. It is commonly used as a metropolitan access network to connect subscribers and businesses to a Wide Area Network, such as the Internet. Large businesses can also use Metro Ethernet to connect branch offices to their Intranet.

Ethernet has been a well known technology for decades. An Ethernet interface is much less expensive than a SDH or PDH interface of the same bandwidth. Ethernet also supports high bandwidths with fine granularity, which is not available with traditional SDH connections. Another distinct advantage of an Ethernet-based access network is that it can be easily connected to the customer network, due to the prevalent use of Ethernet in corporate and, more recently, residential networks. Therefore, bringing Ethernet in to the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) introduces a lot of advantages to both the service provider and the customer (corporate and residential).

Metro Ethernet system

A typical service provider Metro Ethernet network is a collection of Layer 2 or 3 switches or routers connected through optical fiber. The topology could be a ring, hub-and-spoke (star), full mesh or partial mesh. The network will also have a hierarchy: core, distribution and access. The core in most cases is an existing IP/MPLS backbone, but may migrate to newer forms of Ethernet Transport in the form of 10G or 100G speeds.

Ethernet on the MAN can be used as pure Ethernet, Ethernet over SDH, Ethernet over MPLS or Ethernet over DWDM. Pure Ethernet-based deployments are cheap but less reliable and scalable, and thus are usually limited to small scale or experimental deployments. SDH-based deployments are useful when there is an existing SDH infrastructure already in place, its main shortcoming being the loss of flexibility in bandwidth management due to the rigid hierarchy imposed by the SDH network. MPLS based deployments are costly but highly reliable and scalable, and are typically used by large service providers.

Contents [hide] 1 Pure Ethernet MANs 2 SDH-based Ethernet MANs 3 MPLS-based Ethernet MANs 4 Further reading 5 External links

[edit] Pure Ethernet MANs

A pure Ethernet MAN uses only layer 2 switches for all of its internal structure. This allows for a very simple and cheap design, and also for a relatively simple initial configuration. The original Ethernet technology wasn't well suited for service provider applications; as a shared-media network, it was impossible to keep traffic isolated, which made implementation of private circuits impossible. Ethernet MANs became feasible in the late 90's due to the development of new techniques to allow transparent tunneling of traffic through the use of Virtual LANs as "point to point" or "multipoint to multipoint" circuits. Combined with new features such as VLAN Stacking (also known as VLAN Tunneling), and VLAN Translation, it became possible to isolate the customer's traffic from each other and from the core network internal signaling traffic. However, Ethernet is constantly evolving and has now carrier class features with the recent addition of IEEE 802.1ad (Provider Bridges) and IEEE 802.1Qay (Provider Backbone Transport). Spanning-tree, broadcast packets and dynamic mac learning are disabled and sub 50ms failover features are introduced.

There are three main shortcomings with a pure non PBT/PB enabled Ethernet MAN approach:

• By design, layer 2 switches use fixed tables to direct traffic based on the MAC address of the endpoints. As the network gets larger, the number of MAC address transiting through the network may grow beyond the capacity of the core switches. If the core table gets full, the result is a catastrophic loss of performance due to the flooding of packets over the entire network structure.
• Network stability is relatively fragile, especially if compared to the more advanced SDH and MPLS approaches. The recovery time for the standard spanning tree protocol is in the range of tens of seconds, much higher than what can be obtained in the alternative networks (usually a fraction of second). There are a number of optimizations, some standardized through the IEEE, and others vendor-specific, that seek to alleviate this problem. The clever use of such features allow the network to achieve good stability and resilience, at the cost of a more complex configuration and possible use of non-standard, vendor-specific, mechanisms.
• Traffic engineering is very limited. There are few tools to manage the topology of the network; also, the fact that forwarding is done hop-by-hop, added to the possibility of broadcasts even for unicast packets (for instance, while learning new addresses), makes predicting the real traffic pattern very difficult. There are techniques that allow for some control of the preferential traffic paths; these techniques rely on the use of multiple spanning trees, or "per VLAN spanning trees", and are closely connected to the solutions used to achieve better stability and resiliency in the network.

Despite these shortcomings, non PBT/PB enabled Ethernet-based MANs are used for two primary purposes:

• For small scale deployments (under a few hundred customers), a pure Ethernet MAN can be highly cost-effective. It also has the advantage of not requiring advanced knowledge of IP and related protocols, such as BGP and MPLS, which are necessary for an MPLS-based deployment.
• In large scale Metro Ethernets, it's common for the access part of the network to use a pure layer 2 design. At this level, the pure layer 2 design is deemed to be cheaper while still operating under its design limitations. From the distribution layer and above, traffic is aggregated and routed using an MPLS-based Metro Ethernet design.

[edit] SDH-based Ethernet MANs

An SDH based Ethernet MAN is usually used as an intermediate step in the transition from a traditional, time-division based network, to a modern statistical network (such as Ethernet). In this model, the existing SDH infrastructure is used to transport high-speed Ethernet connections. The main advantage of this approach is the high level of reliability, achieved through the use of the native SDH protection mechanisms, which present a typical recovery time of 50 ms for severe failures. On the other hand, an SDH-based Ethernet MAN is usually more expensive, due to costs associated with the SDH/DWDM equipment that is necessary for its implementation. Traffic engineering also tends to be very limited. Hybrid designs use conventional Ethernet switches at the edge of the core SDH ring to alleviate some of these issues, allowing for more control over the traffic pattern and also for a slight reduction in cost.

[edit] MPLS-based Ethernet MANs

An MPLS based Metro Ethernet network uses MPLS in the Service Provider Network. The subscriber will get an Ethernet interface on Copper (100BASE-TX) or fiber (100BASE-FX). The customer's Ethernet packet is transported over MPLS and the service provider network uses Ethernet again as the underlying technology to transport MPLS. So, it is Ethernet over MPLS over Ethernet.

Here, Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) signaling is used as site to site signaling for the inner label (VC label) and Resource reSerVation Protocol-Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) is used as Network signaling for the outer label.

One of the restoration mechanisms used in an MPLS based Metro Ethernet Networks is Fast ReRoute-FRR (MPLS local protection)

The main advantages of an MPLS-based Metro Ethernet against a pure Ethernet are:

• Scalability: pure Ethernet MAN are limited to a maximum of 4,096 VLANs for the whole network, when using MPLS, Ethernet VLANs have local meaning only (like Frame Relay PVC). Same scalability considerations applies to the MAC addresses where in a pure Ethernet MAN all MAC addresses are being shared among the network while only having local meaning in the MPLS context.
• Resiliency: pure Ethernet network resiliency relies on STP or RSTP (30 to 1 sec convergence) while MPLS-based MANs use MPLS-based mechanism (i.e. MPLS Fast Reroute) to achieve SDH-like (50 msecs) convergence times.
• Multiprotocol convergence: with the maturity on pseudowires standards (ATM VLL, FR VLL, etc.) an MPLS-based Metro Ethernet can backhaul not only IP/Ethernet traffic but virtually any type of traffic coming from customer networks or other access networks (i.e. ATM aggregation for UMTS).
• End to End OAM: MPLS-based MAN offers a wider set of troubleshooting and OAM MPLS-based tools which enrich Service Providers ability to effectively troubleshoot and diagnose network problems.

The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) has defined two types of services that can be delivered through Metro Ethernet:

• E-Line also known as Virtual Leased Line and Point-to-Point.
• E-LAN also known as Virtual Private LAN Services, Transparent LAN Services and MultiPoint-to-MultiPoint.

Additionally, various access services can be provided with Metro Ethernet including; High Speed Internet access and IP/VPN access.

There are lot of vendors supplying equipment for Metro Ethernet deployments. They include Alcatel-Lucent, DATACOM, Ericsson, C-COR, Cisco, Ethos Networks, Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks, Huawei, Nortel Networks, Tellabs, ZTE, Alcatel, Juniper Networks and many more. Software solutions for vendors are provided by IP Infusion,Aricent.

In June 2002, HKBN built the largest Metro Ethernet IP network in the world, covering 1.2 million homes.

In late September 2007 Verizon Business announced that it is implementing a Metro Ethernet solution across Asia-Pacific including Australia, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong using Nortel equipment.[1]

Africa's largest and most developed privately owned MPLS Based Metro Ethernet Network is in Kenya. Reaching more than 5000 corporate entities, Kenya Data Networks is providing High End Services using Alcatel Core and Siemens Access equipment. KDN is now moving into FTTH projects and intends to cover more than 100 000 buildings in East Africa within the next 3 years.

Group Policy - Folder Redirection for Windows Server 2003

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Folder Redirection is one of the undiscovered gems amongst the myriad of Microsoft Group Policies. Firstly, configure the file locations of saved files and secondly, master folder redirection, the result will be greater efficiency for both you and your users.
Let us remind ourselves of where Microsoft Office programs save their files. By default, all Word and Excel files are directed to the My Documents folder. What do people do? In Word or Excel, they change the paths under Tools Menu, amend File Locations to point to their home directory. To complete the circle, the administrator must map a network drive to the user's home directory on the server. Perhaps now you can see what I mean by saving time? In one fell swoop, you can configure a Group Policy which redirects the My Documents to the server and forget about mapping network drives for home directories.
Windows Server 2003 Group Policy Topics
User Configuration
Windows Settings
Folder Redirection
Application Data
Desktop
My Documents
Start Menu
Application Data
What we are configuring here is client side caching. My view is that normally, clients can adequately cache their own programs locally. This Application Data setting is different from the Folder Redirection for the 'My Documents'. Perhaps caching is one of those Group Policies that you only need for laptops.
Let us move on to more important policies: Desktop and My Documents.
Troubleshooting Group Policies is tricky. As an MCT trainer, I can thoroughly recommend TrainSignal because they provide practical hands on training. In particular, I like the way TrainSignal cover all learning methods, instructor lead, video and of course text material. You can either take one module, for example Group Policy or go for a combination of modules. See more about Group Policy training here
Desktop
There is a knack to configuring all these 4 redirection settings. At first, it seems at first as though there are no policies in the container. However, if you right click one of the yellow folders, for example 'Desktop' and select Properties, then a rich selection of settings comes into view.
From the first menu, select Target, now drop down the Settings box and choose: 'Advanced' - Specify Location for various user groups'. Choose 'Advanced' where you want all people to whom this policy applies to have their own desktop. In real life the 'Basic' setting may be better for the Desktop, while 'Advanced is more appropriate for the 'My Documents' folder.
If you are organized, then you would have shared out the redirect folder on the server. However even if you haven't, you can still choose the group you intend to redirect. As you share out the folder on the server, so the path changes to the famous %UserName%. Permissions permitting, the subfolders are created automatically thanks to %UserName%.
My Documents
Whilst the 'My Documents' folder is probably the most import redirection setting, the principles are much the same as the previous folders. What I would like to concentrate on here is the Settings Tab.
Once again, in Windows Server 2003, Microsoft have thought of everything. What I particularly like is the control you have over moving the files, and there are even options for what do to if the policy is removed.
Finally, at the bottom you have decisions on what do about the My Pictures sub folder.
Start Menu
The start menu uses the same technology as the other folders. However, your strategy for the Start Menu is likely to be different from the strategy for Folder Redirection. Therefore, I suggest that for Start Menu settings that you point everyone in the group to the SAME folder on the Windows server. The tactic is then to fill this folder with Start Menu icons. There is no need for the %UserName% variable, instead why not give all the users in the group, the same Start Menu experience.
Where you have subfolders off the Start Menu, no worries, like well behaved children, they follow their parent folders automatically!

Geek to Live: Organizing "My Documents"

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File Storage, digital media, discs, feature, geek to live, hard drives, organizing, top
by Gina Trapani
Last week we discussed how to organize your paperwork with a filing cabinet, some manila folders and a label maker. Today we're going to tackle that virtual yellow folder on your computer called "My Documents."
If your current file organization system works for you, congratulations. But if you frequently find yourself letting files clutter your computer's desktop, or if you spend time arranging files in a deep, complicated hierarchy of fine-grained folders, it's time for a revamp. Remember, with simplicity comes effortlessness. A few simple but flexible buckets can get your bits and bytes under control so you can spend less time moving files around and more time getting work done.
There are a million and one ways to arrange files and folders on disk. Some might argue that spending a moment even thinking about it in the age of desktop search is unnecessary. That may be true, but some semblance of order will clear your desktop and your mind and make you "ready for anything." Over the years I've come up with a six folder structure for "My Documents" which I create on every computer I use without fail. This scheme accommodates every file I might come across, keeps my desktop clear, smoothly fits in with an automated backup system and also makes command line file wrangling a breeze.
This is just one way that won't work for everyone, but there may be something here to help you get your digital documents under control. In alphabetical order, my six main folders are called: bak, docs, docs-archive, junkdrawer, multimedia and scripts. Here's a quick rundown of what each does and what it might contain.
bak
I spend a lot of time at the command line, so I always opt for shortened file names. In this case, bak is short for backup - but it isn't what you think. Your data backups will reside on external disks, but the bak folder holds application-specific exported backup data. For instance, your bak folder might contain your Firefox and Thunderbird MozBackup files (you backup before you install new extensions, right?), your Quicken file backup, your Address Book exported CSV, or a dump of your weblog's database.
docs
Docs is the big kahuna of all the six folders. It's the place where all the working files for your currently in-progress tasks, projects and clients go. Docs changes often and frequently, and should be purged often. I have many sub folders in docs, like "finance," "clients," and "creative-writing." The "clients" folder has sub folders too, like "lifehacker" and "kinja." That gets us 3 sub folders in, and that's usually as deep as I'm willing to go.
docs-archive
Your docs file should be purged of no longer "working" files frequently. "Closed" files - on a completed project, for a former employer, for past tax years - should go into your docs-archive. This archive exists just for reference and search, but the separate folder keeps all that extra stuff from cluttering up docs, which is basically your working task dashboard. The files in docs-archive don't change much if ever, and so you can back them up on a different (less frequent) schedule as a result.
junkdrawer
The junkdrawer (or temp, or tmp) is a temporary holding pen for files you're messing around with but don't need to save long-term. Firefox and Thunderbird should both save to junkdrawer by default for downloads and mail attachments. When I'm cropping and sharpening photos to upload, checking out a video or just testing out a script or program, into junkdrawer the files go. Files I decide I want to keep graduate from junkdrawer into docs; otherwise, the automated hard drive janitor I wrote about awhile back comes sweeping through and deletes anything older than 2 weeks from junkdrawer while I sleep.
multimedia
Here's where your music, video and photos folders go. In terms of managing your media within this folder, I'm generally content to let iTunes and Picasa take care of things. Of course your preference may vary, but the benefit of having all those space-hogging sound, video and image files under one multimedia umbrella parent folder is backup. Chances are your multimedia backup scheme will be different than your documents backup because of the lesser change frequency and the gigabytage required. Drop 'em all here in the multimedia folder and you're good to go. Keep in mind that sharing your media with a home web server works nicely with an overarching multimedia folder, too.
scripts
The scripts folder is where any executable script or shortcut lives. Here I keep my previously-mentioned weight logger and janitor scripts, any batch scripts and Windows shortcuts for quick launching programs.
A word about Windows' default home directory
As I said, I'm a big fan of short and to the point file paths. Windows' default user documents directory is something like: C:\Documents and Settings\Gina\My Documents\
To which I say, "For the love of all that is good and holy, why, Microsoft, why?"
I can appreciate human-readable folder names, but I do lots of command line work and scripting, and I don't ever want to have to remember to enclose my home directory path in quotes or remember the slashes to escape spaces. So to make things easier, I always change the home "My Documents" directory to c:\home\gina\. This consistently lowercase path sans spaces is much easier to type, remember and much more scriptable.
To change your documents directory in Windows, right-click on the "My Documents" icon. Under Properties, hit the Move button.

Choose the new location. Windows will politely ask if you'd like to move all your documents from the old location to the new one. Go ahead and do that if you need to.
Note about changing your home directory your documents directory: If you change your "My Documents" path, some dumb Windows applications will STILL think that the C:\Documents and Settings\blah... path is your home directory, so sometimes application data will get saved there. I figure this info can't be too important if the app couldn't figure out where the new home directory is, but it This is something worth keeping in mind.Update: Reader Helena points out that there is a difference between the home directory and the "My Documents" folder, which would explain why Windows apps would still save files to the original home directory. Looks like I'm the dumb one! Thanks, Helena!
Beyond the big 6
If you've read this far, then I'm going to let you in on a little secret: these aren't the only folders that live in my home directory. Being a programmer and web developer, if the workstation I'm on is a development machine, I also frequently work within a "code" folder and a "webserver" folder (the root of my Apache installation.) Also, many Windows applications take it upon themselves to create folders in "My Documents." Sometimes I leave 'em, other times I'll explicitly set where stuff gets saved - like my Trillian IM logs or Thunderbird mail archives location (docs and docs-archive, respectively.)
But enough about me. There must be strong feelings out there about filing versus piling and what the best folder structure is. So, lifehackers, show us your filing mojo. What does your "My Documents" look like? Why does it (or doesn't it) work for you? Let us know in the comments or at tips at lifehacker.com.
Gina Trapani, the editor of Lifehacker, enjoys a well-organized folder more than she should admit. Her semi-weekly feature, Geek to Live, appears every Wednesday and Friday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Geek to Live feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

RE: Remove Folder Redirection

From: v-branee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ("Brandy Nee [MSFT]")
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2006 04:11:52 GMT
Hello John,Thank you for posting to the SBS Newsgroup. I understand that you reverse the File Redirection Group Policy. If I have misunderstood your concern, please let me know. Please take your time to read through my reply and then perform the steps: =========If there are a large number of clients that need to restore their "My Documents" folders back to their local user profile location, we can choose the second option "Redirect the folder back to the local userprofile location when policy is removed". We may use the following steps:1. Create a new GPO.2. Configure the "Folder Redirection" policy to redirect the "My Documents" folders to the same network share as the the previous GPO.3. On the "My Documents Properties" window, click the Settings tab.4. Select the "Redirect the folder back to the local userprofile location when policy is removed" option box, and click OK.5. On the client, please refresh the group policy settings by logging of and logging on the system again. 6. On the domain controller, delete the GPO created and configured in Step 1~Step 4.7. Log off and log on the client system to see if the problem has been solved.=========If the amount of clients is not large, we can manually copy My Document folder back to client workstation: 1. On the client workstation, take the workstation offline. Copy the content from My Document to folder on local drive (Recommended: C:\Documents and Settings\[User]\My Documents). Since the computer is offline, it will copy the content from offline cache and it will not occupy the network resource.2. On the SBS server, open Server management and navigate to Group Policy Management Console.3. Right click the Group Policy Object which you enabled Folder Redirection and click Edit.4. Navigate to User Configuration\Windows Settings\Folder Redirection\My Documents. Right click My Document and click Properties.5. In the Settings tab, Click to select "Leave the folder in the new Location when policy is removed". Click Apply.6. In the Target tab, Click Combo box next to "Setting:" and select "Not configured". Click OK.7. Log on the Client workstation in to the domain.8. Right click My Documents and click properties9. Click Move button. 10. Choose the local folder that you copy the content in the Step #1. Click Apply. 11. You will be prompted with dialog "Would you like to move all of the document?". Please click NO. 12. Click OKHope it helps! if you have any updates, please feel free to let me know. I am looking forward to hearing from you! Best regards,Brandy NeeMicrosoft CSS Online Newsgroup SupportGet Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security======================================================This newsgroup only focuses on SBS technical issues. If you have issues regarding other Microsoft products, you'd better post in the corresponding newsgroups so that they can be resolved in an efficient and timely manner. You can locate the newsgroup here: http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspxWhen opening a new thread via the web interface, we recommend you check the "Notify me of replies" box to receive e-mail notifications when there are any updates in your thread. When responding to posts via your newsreader, please "Reply to Group" so that others may learn and benefit from your issue.Microsoft engineers can only focus on one issue per thread. Although we provide other information for your reference, we recommend you post different incidents in different threads to keep the thread clean. In doing so, it will ensure your issues are resolved in a timely manner. For urgent issues, you may want to contact Microsoft CSS directly. Please check http://support.microsoft.com for regional support phone numbers.Any input or comments in this thread are highly appreciated.======================================================This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.--------------------
From: john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxNewsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.server.sbsSubject: Remove Folder RedirectionDate: 2 Mar 2006 10:18:54 -0800Organization: http://groups.google.comLines: 44Message-ID: <1141323534.464989.314010@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>NNTP-Posting-Host: 67.43.130.51Mime-Version: 1.0Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"X-Trace: posting.google.com 1141323540 6289 127.0.0.1 (2 Mar 2006 18:19:00 GMT)
X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@xxxxxxxxxxNNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 18:19:00 +0000 (UTC)User-Agent: G2/0.2X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1),gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe)
Complaints-To: groups-abuse@xxxxxxxxxxInjection-Info: z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com; posting-host=67.43.130.51;posting-account=WWgs4wwAAACrGJT1nJ-lwv0sQJZ6yQ58Path: TK2MSFTNGXA03.phx.gbl!TK2MSFTNGP08.phx.gbl!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!news.glorb.com!postnews.google.com!z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail
Xref: TK2MSFTNGXA03.phx.gbl microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs:248821X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windows.server.sbsAbout a year ago I was providie instructions on how to redirect the "MyDocuments" folder on my PC only to the network:1. Create a new Security Group and place the user(s) that you want toredirect the My Documents folder for in the security group.2. Open the Group Policy Management console.3. Right click on the Default Domain Policy , and then click Edit .4. Click User Configuration , click Windows Settings , and then clickFolder Redirection.5. Right-click My Documents Folder , and then click Properties.6. In the Settings box, click Advanced - Specify the location forvarious user groups, and then click Add .7. Click the Browse button next to the Security Group Membership box,and then click the security group that you created in Step 1 from thedomain list.8. Click Target Location Folder , and then use a UNC path to thelocation where you want the My Documents folder to be located.9. Click the Settings tab. By default, both of the following settingsare enabled:When enabled, the Grant the user exclusive rights to My Documents checkbox sets permissions on the folder for the User and System to fullpermissions.If you click to clear the check box, no change is made to thepermissions on the folder. When enabled, the Move the contents of MyDocuments to the new location check box moves the contents to the newlocation. If you click to clear the check box, then the contents remainwhere they are.10. In the Policy Removal box, click either Leave the folder in the newlocation when the policy is removed, or Redirect the folder back to thelocal userprofile location when the policy is removed. By default, thefirst option is selected.11. Click Apply , click OK , and then quit Group Policy Editor.12. Bring up a CMD prompt and type "GPUpdate /force"12. Have the user(s) log off and then log on again.These instructions worked great. I would now like to put everythingback to the way it was so I attempted to follow these instruction inreverese but the folder and files are still being redirected.If anyone knows what I might be doing wrong or could provide properinstructions in reverse it would be greatly apprecited :-)

Client Document Redirection

Client Document Redirection
You can redirect all users' My Documents folders from their client computers to a shared folder on the computer running Windows Small Business Server 2003 where they can be backed up regularly. A cached copy of My Documents is stored on the users' computers. Users can work on documents even when disconnected from the network. Each time they log off of or log on to the network, the copy of their My Documents folder on their client computer synchronizes with the server copy.
Redirecting users' documents to the server can use a lot of disk space. It is recommended that you use disk quotas to help control the amount of disk space occupied by users' files. The disk partition where the Users shared folder is located has the following quota settings by default:
•
Disk space is limited to: 1 GB
•
Warning level is set to: 900 MB
When you enable folder redirection, the My Documents folder is redirected to the folder called Users Shared Folders by default. If you redirect the My Documents folder to another location, you need to first set the correct permissions on the folder.
To set permissions on the shared network folder where each user's My Documents folder is redirected
1.
Click Start, and then click Windows Explorer.
2.
Right-click the folder to which you want to redirect the user's My Documents folder, and then click Sharing and Security.
3.
On the Sharing tab, choose Share this folder, click Permissions. Add the following users and groups if they are not present, and then assign them Full Control permissions:
•
Domain Users
•
Domain Admins
•
SBS Folder Operators
Note
It is recommended that you remove any previous users or groups from the list of group or user names.
4.
On the Security tab, click Advanced, and then clear the check box for Allow inheritable permissions from the parent to propagate to this object and all child objects. When prompted for how to assign the permissions, click Remove.
5.
Click Add, add the following users and groups if they are not present, and then assign them Full Control permissions:
•
Creator Owner
•
Domain Admins
•
SBS Folder Operators
•
SYSTEM
6.
Click Add, and then type Domain Users. In the Permissions Entry for All Users dialog box, click the Apply onto drop down box, click This folder only, and then select the following:
•
List Folder/Read Data
•
Read Attributes
•
Create Folders/Append Data

فقط برای تو!

گرچی در حسرتم از دوری گرم نگهت ...........
با یک عالم احساس تقدیم تو باد
امید وارم به عنوان تحفه زنگیم را بپزیری

VLAN

What is a VLAN? How to Setup a VLAN on a Cisco Switch
Have you ever wondered what a Virtual LAN (or VLAN) is or been unclear as to why you would want one? If so, I have been in your place at one time too. Since then, I have learned a lot about what a VLAN is and how it can help me. In this article, I will share that knowledge with you.
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document.context='YTowOnt9';

What is a LAN?
Okay, most of you already know what a LAN is but let’s give it a definition to make sure. We have to do this because, if you don’t know what a LAN is, you can’t understand what a VLAN is.
A LAN is a local area network and is defined as all devices in the same broadcast domain. If you remember, routers stop broadcasts, switches just forward them.
What is a VLAN?
As I said, a VLAN is a virtual LAN. In technical terms, a VLAN is a broadcast domain created by switches. Normally, it is a router creating that broadcast domain. With VLAN’s, a switch can create the broadcast domain.
This works by, you, the administrator, putting some switch ports in a VLAN other than 1, the default VLAN. All ports in a single VLAN are in a single broadcast domain.
Because switches can talk to each other, some ports on switch A can be in VLAN 10 and other ports on switch B can be in VLAN 10. Broadcasts between these devices will not be seen on any other port in any other VLAN, other than 10. However, these devices can all communicate because they are on the same VLAN. Without additional configuration, they would not be able to communicate with any other devices, not in their VLAN.
Are VLANs required?
It is important to point out that you don’t have to configure a VLAN until your network gets so large and has so much traffic that you need one. Many times, people are simply using VLAN’s because the network they are working on was already using them.
Another important fact is that, on a Cisco switch, VLAN’s are enabled by default and ALL devices are already in a VLAN. The VLAN that all devices are already in is VLAN 1. So, by default, you can just use all the ports on a switch and all devices will be able to talk to one another.
When do I need a VLAN?
You need to consider using VLAN’s in any of the following situations:
You have more than 200 devices on your LAN
You have a lot of broadcast traffic on your LAN
Groups of users need more security or are being slowed down by too many broadcasts?
Groups of users need to be on the same broadcast domain because they are running the same applications. An example would be a company that has VoIP phones. The users using the phone could be on a different VLAN, not with the regular users.
Or, just to make a single switch into multiple virtual switches.
Why not just subnet my network?
A common question is why not just subnet the network instead of using VLAN’s? Each VLAN should be in its own subnet. The benefit that a VLAN provides over a subnetted network is that devices in different physical locations, not going back to the same router, can be on the same network. The limitation of subnetting a network with a router is that all devices on that subnet must be connected to the same switch and that switch must be connected to a port on the router.
With a VLAN, one device can be connected to one switch, another device can be connected to another switch, and those devices can still be on the same VLAN (broadcast domain).
How can devices on different VLAN’s communicate?
Devices on different VLAN’s can communicate with a router or a Layer 3 switch. As each VLAN is its own subnet, a router or Layer 3 switch must be used to route between the subnets.
What is a trunk port?
When there is a link between two switches or a router and a switch that carries the traffic of more than one VLAN, that port is a trunk port.
A trunk port must run a special trunking protocol. The protocol used would be Cisco’s proprietary Inter-switch link (ISL) or the IEEE standard 802.1q.
How do I create a VLAN?
Configuring VLAN’s can vary even between different models of Cisco switches. Your goals, no matter what the commands are, is to:
Create the new VLAN’s
Put each port in the proper VLAN
Let’s say we wanted to create VLAN’s 5 and 10. We want to put ports 2 & 3 in VLAN 5 (Marketing) and ports 4 and 5 in VLAN 10 (Human Resources). On a Cisco 2950 switch, here is how you would do it:

At this point, only ports 2 and 3 should be able to communicate with each other and ports 4 & 5 should be able to communicate. That is because each of these is in its own VLAN. For the device on port 2 to communicate with the device on port 4, you would have to configure a trunk port to a router so that it can strip off the VLAN information, route the packet, and add back the VLAN information.
What do VLAN’s offer?
VLAN’s offer higher performance for medium and large LAN’s because they limit broadcasts. As the amount of traffic and the number of devices grow, so does the number of broadcast packets. By using VLAN’s you are containing broadcasts.
VLAN’s also provide security because you are essentially putting one group of devices, in one VLAN, on their own network.
Article Summary
Here is what we have learned:
A VLAN is a broadcast domain formed by switches
Administrators must create the VLAN’s then assign what port goes in what VLAN, manually.
VLAN’s provide better performance for medium and large LAN’s.
All devices, by default, are in VLAN 1.
A trunk port is a special port that runs ISL or 802.1q so that it can carry traffic from more than one VLAN.
For devices in different VLAN’s to communicate, you must use a router of Layer 3 switch.
Related articles
You might also want to read the following related articles:
How a Cisco Switch functions on an Ethernet network
How to Recover a Lost Password on a Cisco Switch
How to Use HyperTerminal with Cisco Switches
Basics of Cisco Switch Administration - Part 1
Basics of Cisco Switch Administration - Part 2
Setup VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) on Cisco Switches
About the writer
David Davis (CCIE #9369, CWNA, MCSE, CISSP, Linux+, CEH) has been in the IT industry for 15 years. Currently, he manages a group of systems/network administrators for a privately owned retail company and authors IT-related material in his spare time. He has written over fifty articles, eight practice tests and three video courses and has co-authored one book. His website is at www.happyrouter.com.
David Davis is also one of the Petri.co.il forum moderators.

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