How to configure VLAN network in Ubuntu 20.04

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In our day-to-day life, we have seen LAN and WAN network architectures mostly because we have to deal with only one IP address on one interface. We either connect our system with LAN cable or with Wifi.

In this article, we will discuss the VLAN and how to create the VLAN on the Ubuntu server but let’s first understand what is VLAN and why we use VLAN.

What is VLAN

Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) is a logical concept of breaking large broadcast domains into smaller domains. The VLAN protocol is based on IEEE 802.1Q.  VLAN can be considered as a subnet. Two different subnets cannot communicate with each other without a bridge or router.

Why we use VLANs

The above image is an example showing how the network can be divided in the office. There is a clear separation of the department network which is done by separating through VLANs.

There are many advantages of using VLAN in our network architecture mentioned the following:

  • Logically devide the broadcas domain which reduces the size of the domains.
  • Add additional layer of security.
  • Make device management easier.
  • QoS or other netowrk policies are easy to implement.
  • Also make network scalable

VLAN installation.

To use VLAN in Ubuntu, install the VLAN package first. Now make sure that the Linux kernel driver (module) called 8021q is loaded. Use the following command to install VLAN:

sudo apt install vlan

If the module is not loaded after installation you can use the following command to load 8021q module. 

modprobe --first-time 8021q

Verify that module is loaded by using the following command:

modinfo 8021q

The output of the above command in my setup

root@ubuntu:~# modinfo 8021q
filename:       /lib/modules/5.11.0-36-generic/kernel/net/8021q/8021q.ko
version:        1.8
license:        GPL
alias:          rtnl-link-vlan
srcversion:     4DC720ECF732ECC695B9099
depends:        mrp,garp
retpoline:      Y
intree:         Y
name:           8021q
vermagic:       5.11.0-36-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 
sig_id:         PKCS#7
signer:         Build time autogenerated kernel key
sig_key:        5F:F6:6F:23:86:35:AB:B9:29:CC:24:05:2D:F8:3F:30:B4:4E:49:3D
sig_hashalgo:   sha512
signature:      44:B6:6A:63:55:DF:57:DE:BB:98:54:5C:A6:77:A3:73:4C:DE:22:10:
		64:47:2F:68:54:69:F7:E2:F2:2A:B7:60:EC:C8:9C:60:23:6E:C2:80:
		6D:53:12:9D:EE:B6:4B:71:09:67:81:B4:55:9B:A2:A9:FE:7D:CC:41:
		4B:5C:34:70:B5:35:CD:FD:14:C5:D7:02:63:A5:29:B8:23:B3:B9:D8:
		BE:4C:76:8A:B9:38:92:8F:BD:5D:3D:8C:87:92:A0:F5:15:C0:DD:99:
		46:0D:9C:FE:4B:33:0D:7C:6F:B6:8F:2F:C6:C6:29:A7:20:75:36:0A:
		DA:E6:50:E1:28:74:CF:C3:F7:9F:37:DE:96:CD:54:0C:9F:A4:6A:7F:
		05:15:FE:57:E4:61:EE:8E:52:9C:13:2F:FF:03:60:A2:CB:47:49:31:
		A7:31:CC:F3:5C:EF:FA:61:BA:21:C7:E4:F3:B9:89:53:2E:DE:73:A8:
		A7:63:09:6E:1F:11:BA:D6:06:0A:04:0F:5A:DF:12:D0:17:01:97:F0:
		25:04:BC:EA:81:EE:B3:77:EE:87:55:19:0B:F1:58:19:F4:38:49:29:
		D5:4F:14:A9:8D:40:4C:8B:ED:52:FE:65:B7:7E:CB:01:54:23:66:DC:
		81:7B:47:F6:97:31:FB:36:B4:91:C8:00:98:77:E6:C6:85:E9:AB:A5:
		75:8D:02:A9:EB:BC:97:C2:8A:75:63:2F:82:BE:EB:21:C2:DE:2D:7D:
		D2:2C:7F:26:E7:0B:BF:4A:80:D9:47:0D:EA:77:DA:BA:90:77:B9:AE:
		64:2B:E9:3A:51:4F:50:88:94:AA:33:F2:00:02:83:BF:45:51:46:B0:
		D7:CA:6C:EB:47:47:CE:67:B5:AC:26:E6:CB:18:34:7B:38:64:59:C0:
		25:67:66:B7:C0:EA:40:42:00:0D:6A:1B:49:88:8E:D3:13:04:EF:BE:
		9A:11:E4:C2:4A:92:A8:BC:F9:4F:0C:53:14:55:7B:DA:30:74:FC:4B:
		37:8A:0B:87:13:95:55:97:C9:60:FE:24:25:DF:E0:16:84:88:BA:0F:
		9C:4E:1E:46:E4:E2:4E:DF:11:1D:81:90:68:D6:CE:BF:D9:26:E5:54:
		AF:C3:60:6B:92:48:71:AC:69:6D:5F:E7:F2:21:57:D0:4F:0A:5E:2C:
		9F:F8:DC:7B:75:DE:C0:F6:B5:91:8F:6A:A8:B1:41:8D:41:27:CD:20:
		E9:2C:37:33:CD:E0:CE:92:19:D0:5E:69:E1:1B:25:29:E0:F7:CB:6B:
		A8:91:CA:4E:47:97:B7:58:CE:63:24:F0:2E:D7:31:9A:F2:BF:50:FD:
		86:0B:75:78:0A:E9:62:1A:37:9F:70:2E
root@ubuntu:~#

VLAN configuration to assign

We want to assign the following IP address to the VLAN interface.

  • IP address: 192.168.100.2
  • Subnet Mask : 255.255.255.0
  • Default gateway: 192.168.100.1
  • VLAN ID : 100
  • Device: enp1s0.100

Configure VLAN with IP command

We will first create the VLAN interface enp1s0.100. Then we will add the IP address to the interface. The following commands will be used. 

sudo ip link add link enp1s0 name enp1s0.100 type vlan id 100

Use ip a command to check does above command has added the VLAN interface, the output has mentioned below: 

root@ubuntu:~# ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:22:b2:8b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.122.201/24 brd 192.168.122.255 scope global enp1s0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::5054:ff:fe22:b28b/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: tun0: <POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST,NOARP,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UNKNOWN group default qlen 100
    link/none 
    inet 10.8.0.1/24 brd 10.8.0.255 scope global tun0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::8fee:28dc:d3f2:578a/64 scope link stable-privacy 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
4: enp1s0.100@enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:22:b2:8b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
root@ubuntu:~#

Below mentioned command will add IP address to the VLAN interface.

sudo ip addr add 192.168.100.2/24 dev enp1s0.100

Verify

Use the ip a command to list all interfaces in the machine. 

root@ubuntu:~# ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:22:b2:8b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.122.201/24 brd 192.168.122.255 scope global enp1s0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::5054:ff:fe22:b28b/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: tun0: <POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST,NOARP,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UNKNOWN group default qlen 100
    link/none 
    inet 10.8.0.1/24 brd 10.8.0.255 scope global tun0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::8fee:28dc:d3f2:578a/64 scope link stable-privacy 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
4: enp1s0.100@enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:22:b2:8b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.100.2/24 scope global enp1s0.100
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
root@ubuntu:~#

This configuration is not permanent for permanent configuration use Netplan.

Configure VLAN with Netplan

Netplan related Configuration files can be found in the /etc/netplan directory. /etc/netpan directory has multiple YAML files. In our ubuntu 20.04 server the yaml file which is responsible for network configuration is named as 01-network-manager-all.yaml

The network configuration file’s name can be different in some setups this file is named as 01-netcfg.yaml and in some setup it is called 50-cloud-init.yaml

To assign a static IP address on the network interface, open the 01-network-manager-all.yaml configuration file. Configuration file look like shown in below mention snapshot

network:
  ethernets:
    enp1s0:
      dhcp4: false
      addresses:
        - 192.168.122.201/24
      gateway4: 192.168.122.1
      nameservers:
          addresses: [8.8.8.8, 1.1.1.1]

    vlans:
        enp1s0.100:
            id: 100
            link: enp1s0
            addresses: [192.168.100.2/24]

Once done, save the file and apply the changes by running the following command:

sudo netplan apply

Configure Vlan with ifconfig

In the netplan configuration, I have faced issues like Error in network definition: unknown key

The issue occurs due to bad spacing sometimes and it is quite irritating. Therefore, I prefer to configure it through ifconfig.

We can use ifconfig commands to add a new interface and to manage or play with other network configurations. However, for ifconfig command, we need to install the net-tool package in ubuntu. You can use the following command to install the package. 

ubuntu@ubuntu-exp:~$ sudo apt install net-tools

Then add the following entries in /etc/network/interfaces file and save the file. 

auto enp1s0.100
iface enp1s0.100 inet static
address 192.168.100.2
netmask 255.255.255.0
vlan-raw-device enp1s0.100

Then run the following command to up the interface.

ifconfig enp1s0.100 up

Verify

Use the ip a command to list all interfaces in the machine. 

root@ubuntu:~# ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:22:b2:8b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.122.201/24 brd 192.168.122.255 scope global enp1s0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::5054:ff:fe22:b28b/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: tun0: <POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST,NOARP,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UNKNOWN group default qlen 100
    link/none 
    inet 10.8.0.1/24 brd 10.8.0.255 scope global tun0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::8fee:28dc:d3f2:578a/64 scope link stable-privacy 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
4: enp1s0.100@enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:22:b2:8b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.100.2/24 scope global enp1s0.100
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
root@ubuntu:~#

Summary

In this article, we learned about the VLAN and how to configure the VLAN in Ubuntu 20.04. We discussed three different strategies to configure the VLAN in Ubuntu.

If you face any issues don’t hesitate to comment.

Related posts:

How to create a virtual network interface in Ubuntu 20.04 What is VPN and why it is used How to add a Static IP address in Ubuntu 20.04 server How to configure VLAN network interface in CentOS

6 thoughts on “How to configure VLAN network in Ubuntu 20.04”

  1. XMC.pl

    I really enjoy this template you have got going on in your site. What is the name of the design by the way? I was thinking of using this style for the blog I am going to put together for my class project.

    Reply
  2. xmc.pl

    I’ve the same problem sometimes, but I usually just force myself via it and revise later. Great luck!

    Reply
  3. Kellye

    Thanks for finally talking about > How to configure VLAN
    network in Ubuntu – With examples bp77 login

    Reply
  4. Abinav

    Can the IP inside VLAN be pinged from a node which is connected to same router (the router to which host machine is connected)?
    Basically, ping Node_V1 from Node_2?

    |———->Router—– —–|
    Node_1 Node_2
    has VLAN_1
    has Node_V1

    Reply
    1. Admin

      Sorry, your question is not clear to me, Node_2 has IPs from which VLAN?

      Assuming two scenarios to the question:
      1. Node_1 has IP from VLAN_1 and Node_2 has IP from the same VLAN i.e. VLAN_1. In this scenario, they can ping each other.
      2. Node_1 has IP from VLAN_1 and Node_2 has IP from a different VLAN. In this scenario they can or can’t ping each other it depends on the router’s setting, is the router allowing the routing, it’s a common case where an organization requires communicating two different VLANs

      Reply

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