Default Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN)

The default virtual local area network (VLAN) is 1 by default on any Cisco switch. It is a special VLAN in that it cannot be changed or deleted. It is a management VLAN that carries control protocols such as Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP), Port Aggregation Protocol (PagP), and Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP).

The default VLAN is different than the native VLAN. The native VLAN is a VLAN in which traffic is not tagged in a trunk.

Configure

There isn’t anything to configure for the default VLAN since VLAN 1 is the default VLAN out of the box and is a mandatory VLAN.

Verify

You can verify the default VLAN by typing in the following:

Switch#show vlan

The above command will display the following:

VLAN  Name             Status    Ports
----  ---------------- --------- -------------------
1     default          active    Fa0/1, Fa0/2, Fa0/3

To view the native vlan, you would look at the trunk properties of the interface.

Switch#show interfaces interface-id switchport

This will display the interface switchport information containing VLAN information. This particular line will display the native vlan:

Trunking Native Mode VLAN: 1 (default)