Feature Description

UPF supports segmenting the enterprise traffic using Virtual LAN (VLAN). VLANs enable a single physical LAN segment to be further segmented into smaller virtual networks so that the groups of ports are isolated from one another, as if they were on physically different segments. In VLAN segmentation, the UEs belonging to different classes are assigned to different VLANs for traffic isolation.

VLAN Segmentation can be achieved using two methods:

  1. Next Hop Forwarding

  2. Virtual Routing and Forwarding

UPF supports segmenting VLAN traffic by configuring VRF. It is a layer-3 virtualization that consists of configuring a VRF with a defaut route per VLAN. The VRF default route is used for sending packets.

VLAN segmentation is enabled by logically mapping the VLAN tags with the IP pools at the SMF. The UPF is informed about the mapping configuration based on which UPF forwards the uplink packets on the N6 interface through the default route configured for a VRF.