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Catalyst 2900 Series XL and Catalyst 3500 Series XL Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter 8      Configuring VLANs
Using VTP
The VTP Domain
A VTP domain (also called a VLAN management domain) consists of one switch 
or several interconnected switches under the same administrative responsibility. 
A switch can be in only one VTP domain. You make global VLAN configuration 
changes for the domain by using the CLI, Cluster Management software, or 
SNMP. 
By default, a Catalyst 2900 XL or Catalyst 3500 XL switch is in the 
no-management-domain state until it receives an advertisement for a domain over 
a trunk link (a link that carries the traffic of multiple VLANs) or until you 
configure a domain name. The default VTP mode is server mode, but VLAN 
information is not propagated over the network until a domain name is specified 
or learned.
If the switch receives a VTP advertisement over a trunk link, it inherits the 
domain name and configuration revision number. The switch then ignores 
advertisements with a different domain name or an earlier configuration revision 
number.
When you make a change to the VLAN configuration on a VTP server, the change 
is propagated to all switches in the VTP domain. VTP advertisements are sent 
over all trunk connections, including Inter-Switch Link (ISL), IEEE 802.1Q, 
IEEE 802.10, and ATM LANE.
If you configure a switch for VTP transparent mode, you can create and modify 
VLANs, but the changes are not transmitted to other switches in the domain, and 
they affect only the individual switch. 
For domain name and password configuration guidelines, see the “Domain 
Names” section on page 8-18.