general vs trunk port

Question

I have inherited a Dell PowerConnect network where the uplinks are set as general switchport and every vlan is tagged on that port. (vlan 1 is untagged on the port.)

Will there be any repercussions if I change the ports to trunk mode or is it a better security practice to keep uplinks as general switchports?

Certain mfg's follow what you have setup already (for instance Extreme Networks). Either one should work fine for "switch to switch" connectivity. — TheCleaner, Mar 04 '14 at 21:53

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 04 '14 at 20:32

2

Very possibly there will be repercussions, what if the devices on the ports aren't VLAN-tag-aware? Packets will just be dropped. Use both types where appropriate.

answered Mar 04 '14 at 20:32

Chopper3

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They are switch-to-switch connections. In all cases, the uplinks are connected to a vlan-aware switch. – AWippler Mar 04 '14 at 21:27
That would have been useful to know earlier, in which case you'll be fine. – Chopper3 Mar 04 '14 at 21:29
Is there any added security benefit to having the ports as general instead of trunk? – AWippler Mar 04 '14 at 21:31
Perhaps but only really on a theoretical basis, there's anecdotal reports of .1q trunk jump hacks but they're not in the wild. – Chopper3 Mar 04 '14 at 21:36

general vs trunk port

1 Answers1