Subnets vs VLANs

What is the difference between subnets and VLANs? Both of these are used to separate or break down a network into smaller networks. Subnets separate networks physically, while VLANs separate networks virtually.

[gwgux]

As a network engineer I can say: yep, that's how it works at a high level.

Most blogs/courses/videos/etc. go really far into how subnets and VLANs work and often talk about packet tagging, subnet masks, etc., and forget to just give a high level overview of what the stuff does. These videos are short, concise, and accurate. I recommend them a lot to people looking to learn this stuff for the first time as it helps to know what the technology does before you get lost in the weeds on making it work. ;)

[suryateja]

Sir, you are a blessing to everyone who want to upgrade or refresh their IT skills. You break complex topics in such a simple explanation and graphical representation. Thank you 😌

[damianpodgorski]

Believe it or not but I was wondering what is the actual difference between Subnets vs VLANs and your video comes in exactly right moment!

[James_Knott]

You'd still normally have different subnets for each VLAN. All a VLAN does is logically separate a network, instead of physically. This also gives flexibility in that switch ports can be assigned to specific VLANs. This means someone from sales and someone from IT could be connected to the same switch, but be on different VLANs and subnets. Another use for VLANs is with multiple SSIDs on an access point. For example, here I have a guest WiFi on the same AP as the main network and use a VLAN to carry the guest users over the exact same wire as the main network users. The router then provides a different subnet for the guests and routes them to the Internet.
BTW, I have a Cisco managed switch here.

[franciscosalcido]

I've done a couple courses studying for Network+ and watching your videos in 1.5 speed is the BEST refresher of knowledge. Very thankful you made this content for us!

[Mister]

As a 30 year networking veteran I both love and cringe the simplicity of your videos. They are accurate but necessarily incomplete in the information they portray (which you state directly at the end of this particular video). I am extremely passionate about this field and hope that your videos inspire people to go deeper down the rabbit hole and learn how PCs, networks, firewalls, etc. work rather than treating them like a "magic black box" .

I admire your talent both in simplifying topics that would otherwise be very daunting to beginners as well as doing fantastic easy to follow animations.

/salute

[vijaybaidya]

Being honest, this is the only video which I was looking for from last 3-4 years. You described everything in easy way. Thanks and expecting a video on Basic Network Concepts.

[regelia_]

I looked and looked for videos on YouTube and never have I run into a channel that explains IT this well while keeping me entertained. I keep rewatching the clips and I'm not even studying for the CompTIA exams lol.. very well broken down explanations!

[ianwall]

I'm literally in the middle of studying subnet masking for my CCNA 200-301 right now. This little extra clarification of the two could not have been at a better time. Thank you so much!

[teomcam]

I can’t find words to thank you enough, sir. We all really appreciated and acknowledged your great effort to make learning these important things easier.

[extremelydave]

As you said, you can only learn so much from one video....this just scratched the surface but touched on the major points. Another fide video Mr. PowerCert!!!

[imeanittoyou]

I definitely recommend this channel to everyone I know who wants to learn networking. It's easy to understand, visually we can see each topic. Thank you so much sir.

[seanzigmund]

Yes, this is correct, but one unfortunate point that was left out is that subnets are not just physical and defined at routers in a complex network - especially in this age of Software Defined Networking (SDN). Subnets can be virtualized just like VLANs (and this has been the case for quite some time now) on a single router and/or layer 3 switch at a single port such that your VLANs and subnets can all be on the same network port at the router - plug a single switch (configured with multiple VLANs) into that singular router (with virtualized subnet interfaces on that one router port) and you now have a logical separation at layer 2 (VLAN) and layer 3 (subnet). As an example: RouterA has two ports/interfaces - Eth0 (connected to the ISP as the path to the Internet) and Eth1 (connected to the switch, port 1). SwitchA has 24 interfaces/ports with port 1 connected to Eth1 of RouterA, which is configured as a VLAN trunk port (meaning ALL VLANs configured on the switch are allowed in/out of that port). RouterA Eth1 is configured with virtual sub-interfaces 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 for VLAN1, VLAN2, and VLAN3 respectively and those sub interfaces are configured with subnets of 192.168.1.0/24, 192.168.2.0/24, and 192.168.3.0/24 respectively. SwitchA has ports 2 - 4 in VLAN1, 5 - 8 in VLAN2, and 9 - 12 in VLAN3, and again port 1 as a trunk port connected to Eth1 on RouterA. RouterA also acts as a DHCP server for each subnet and as the firewall & router to the Internet connection. When a computing device is connected to port 2 on SwitchA, the switch will send the devices DHCP request frames (layer 2 info) to the router as a broadcast to sub-interface 1.1 (VLAN1) and the router will send out an IP address within 192.168.1.x and no other device on any of the switch ports outside of ports 2-4 will be able to "see" that info. Essentially, network boundaries (security, segmentation of info/broadcasts/etc.) can be created on singular interfaces of routers and layer 3 switches and tied into layer2 devices to simplify the hardware requirements on a network nowadays, and with computer virtualization the rabbit hole gets much deeper, but yeah, this video is a basic representation of subnets and VLANs and a pretty good visual representation (the switch segmentation especially). Keep up the good work, but don't leave out the nuances (perhaps create other deeper videos).Consider even the fact that vendor implementations of the standards are so varied that from one hardware platform to another there are differences that can make the concepts confusing and challenging to implement - take Cisco vs. Sonicwall vs. Netgear vs. Ubiquiti vs. VMWare as an example - all very different to implement, but following the standards to achieve similar results on a network, and as a new standard is released, such as SDN, they all typically follow suit and release the standard on their hardware as a firmware/software upgrade to keep up with current network and computing trends (the never ending nature of "progress"!). Nice work overall!

[selvakumars]

This is what I actually searching for the past fewdays. You made it at the right time. And provided a dowm to earth explanation. Thank you sir.

[masterkeyplanolocksmith]

Your videos are absolutely incredible. I didn’t find anyone explained it along with amazing graphics like you did. Thank you for such a great experience. Make more videos please

[IvanRodriguez-qyvl]

I truly appreciate the time and commitment you've put into creating these videos! They've been incredibly valuable in propelling my career forward in the field of I.T. Much appreciated!

[keyo]

Amazing Videos, you make learning much more easy and effective. I can tell your videos take a lot of time to make and the level of detailing you put in video is mind-blowing.

Did anyone notice when the the cables connected to switch & after he said configure the ports. The lights started blinking meaning data is moving.

Love it!

[StopWhining]

Your animations make technical concepts much easier to understand.

[redietgirma]

This guy is a savior. Thank you sir for every thing. And if you do a video about subnetting again i would appriciate it.

[soraiscool]

This is amazing! Thank you for putting so much effort and work into these QUALITY videos. Please keep making more you make learning technology not only easier but fun!