Patent ID: 7734736

Claim:
A method of providing configuration information for a bridged virtual local area network (VLAN) within a communication network, comprising the steps of: presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) to an operator; receiving from the operator an identification of a node and of a physical port through the GUI; receiving the VLAN configuration information from the operator through the GUI, wherein the VLAN configuration information comprises a requested VLAN identifier (ID), a first set of at least one virtual port to be associated with a member set of the VLAN, and a second set of one or more virtual ports to be associated with a forbidden set of the VLAN; validating the VLAN configuration information, comprising: ensuring that the first set and the second set have no virtual ports in common, and ensuring that configuring the VLAN associated with the requested VLAN ID would not violate a maximum limit of VLANS on the physical port; generating locally a validated VLAN configuration according to the VLAN configuration information, wherein the validated VLAN configuration comprises the first set of at least one virtual port and the second set of one or more virtual ports; and transmitting the validated VLAN configuration to the node.