VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP)

The VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) is a very handy protocol to create, manage and maintain a large network with many switches under the same physical LAN.

The VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) can manage the addition, deletion, and renaming of VLANs from a central server without manual intervention and VLAN Trunk Protocol (VTP) thus reducing overhead on network administration.

A key ingredient of VTP is configuration revision number which is a 32-bit number that indicates the level of revision for a VTP packet.

Each VTP device tracks the VTP  revision number that is assigned to it. This information is used in order to determine whether the received information is more recent than the current version.

Related – What is VTP Bomb

Methods to Reset Revision Number in VTP

Each time that you make a VLAN change in a VTP device, the configuration revision is incremented by one. Below we will discuss 2 commonly used methods to reset revision number configuration of a switch.

PROCEDURE 1

RESET THE CONFIGURATION REVISION NUMBER USING DOMAIN NAME:

The 1st procedure to reset the VTP configuration revision number is by changing the domain name and then reverting back the configuration. Below is the step by step method to be followed –

Step 1 –
show vtp status command on Cisco Switch in order to check the VTP configuration revision number.

Step 2 –
Go to the global configuration mode and change the VTP domain name on Cisco Switch.

Step 3 –
Again change the VTP domain name back to initial domain name.

 
Step 4 –
Now check the VTP configuration revision number again with show vtp status command. It will be reset and changed to zero.

Related- VTP Pruning

PROCEDURE 2

RESET THE CONFIGURATION REVISION NUMBER USING VTP MODE:

The preferred procedure to reset the VTP configuration revision number is by changing the domain name and then reverting back the configuration. Below is the step by step method to be followed –

This procedure is a faster method to clear the VTP configuration revision number. Here we change the switch VTP mode to “Transparent Mode”, and then switch back. Below is the step by step method to be followed –

Step 1 –
Issue show vtp status command on Cisco Switch in order to check the VTP  configuration revision number.

Continue Reading:

VTP Interview Questions

VTP Mode and Version Comparison

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rashmi Bhardwaj

I am here to share my knowledge and experience in the field of networking with the goal being – “The more you share, the more you learn.”

I am a biotechnologist by qualification and a Network Enthusiast by interest. I developed interest in networking being in the company of a passionate Network Professional, my husband.

I am a strong believer of the fact that “learning is a constant process of discovering yourself.”
– Rashmi Bhardwaj (Author/Editor)