In a Cisco switch network that uses VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP), there are several types of VTP messages that are exchanged between switches to synchronize and distribute VLAN information:
- VTP Summary Advertisements: These messages are sent by VTP servers to other switches in the same VTP domain to summarize the entire VLAN configuration. They contain the number of existing VLANs, the highest VLAN ID, and the revision number of the VLAN database.
- VTP Subset Advertisements: These messages are sent by VTP servers to other switches in the same VTP domain in response to a specific request for VLAN information. They contain information about a subset of the VLANs in the network.
- VTP Advertisements: These messages are sent by VTP servers to other switches in the same VTP domain to update the VLAN information. They contain information about new VLANs, modified VLANs, or deleted VLANs.
- VTP Requests: These messages are sent by VTP clients to VTP servers to request specific information about the VLANs in the network.
VTP messages are used by switches in a network to keep the VLAN information up-to-date and consistent across all switches in the VTP domain. The VTP messages are sent as multicast frames and are processed by all switches in the network, regardless of their VTP mode.
