32.6.12 VLAN Support

The following table describes an Ethernet encoded 802.1Q VLAN tag.

Table 32-5. 802.1Q VLAN Tag
TPID (Tag Protocol Identifier) 16 bitsTCI (Tag Control Information) 16 bits
0x8100First 3 bits priority, then CFI bit, last 12 bits VID

The VLAN tag is inserted at the 13th byte of the frame adding an extra four bytes to the frame. To support these extra four bytes, the GMAC can accept frame lengths up to 1536 bytes by setting bit 8 in the Network Configuration register.

If the VID (VLAN identifier) is null (0x000) this indicates a priority-tagged frame.

The following bits in the receive buffer descriptor status word give information about VLAN tagged frames:-

  • Bit 21 set if receive frame is VLAN tagged (i.e., type ID of 0x8100).
  • Bit 20 set if receive frame is priority tagged (i.e., type ID of 0x8100 and null VID). (If bit 20 is set, bit 21 will be set also.)
  • Bit 19, 18 and 17 set to priority if bit 21 is set.
  • Bit 16 set to CFI if bit 21 is set.

The GMAC can be configured to reject all frames except VLAN tagged frames by setting the discard non-VLAN frames bit in the Network Configuration register.