DOKK / manpages / debian 12 / vlan / vlan-interfaces.5.en
VLAN-INTERFACES(5) File formats VLAN-INTERFACES(5)

/etc/network/interfaces (vlan) - vlan extensions for the interfaces(5) file format

/etc/network/interfaces contains network interface configuration information for the ifup(8) and ifdown(8) commands. This manpage describes the vlan extensions to the standard interfaces(5) file format.

Primary extensions exist to make and destroy vlan interfaces, secondary extensions exist for ipv4 interface manipulation which are generally needed when using (a lot of) vlans.

Vlan interface definitions exist of the vlan interface name, and an optional ´raw-device´ parameter. Vlan interfaces are numbered 1 to 4095. You have the option to have interface names zero-padded to 4 numbers, or just the plain digits without leading zero. The following example shows four ways to create a vlan with id 1 on interface eth0. They all result in different names.


iface eth0.1 inet static
address 192.168.1.1
netmask 255.255.255.0


iface vlan1 inet static
vlan-raw-device eth0
address 192.168.1.1
netmask 255.255.255.0


iface eth0.0001 inet static
address 192.168.1.1
netmask 255.255.255.0


iface vlan0001 inet static
vlan-raw-device eth0
address 192.168.1.1
netmask 255.255.255.0


# We don't have br support out of the box
iface br0.2 inet static
vlan-raw-device br0
address 192.168.1.1
netmask 255.255.255.0


# Aliases are ignored
iface br0.2:1 inet static
address 192.168.1.1
netmask 255.255.255.255

Usually someone who uses vlans also wants to do some other manipulations with the ip stack or interface.

Indicates the device to create the vlan on. This is ignored when the devicename is part of the vlan interface name.
Turn proxy-arp off or on for this specific interface. This also works on plain ethernet like devices.
Set the return path filter for this specific interface. This also works on plain ethernet like devices.
This sets the mac address of the interface before bringing it up. This works on any device that allows setting the hardware address with the ip command.

This manpage was adapted from interfaces(5) by Ard van Breemen <ard@kwaak.net>

vconfig(8) interfaces(5)

September 30 2007 vlan