Interface VLAN 1 has ip address of 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.0 and the default gateway of 192.168.1.1. why does interface VLAN 1 require an ip address in this this LAN?

Answer 1

Simple answer is:

In order to connect to your switch or to do some troubleshooting of the links connected to the switch you require an ip add binded on the switch, therefore to access it or troubleshoot any link connected to it an ip add is used.

Detailed answer:

For Example lets consider a scenario in which a switch connected to 2 diff sites, A & B. Both A & B are using point to point ip to communicate with each other and are assigned a single VLAN 100 to pass through the switch.

Suppose if site B gets down due to any reason and you want to confirm it, you will access your switch and shutdown the port connected to site A because you are about to bind site A's ip address to your vlan interface, finally you will bind the ip address of site A to interface vlan 100 and then ping site B, if the ping response is not successful it means the problem exists in the path & vice versa. This detailed answer is just to clear the concept.

Regards,

Engr. Emad ul Haq

Answer 2

In order to connect to your switch or to do some troubleshooting of the links connected to the switch you require an ip add binded on the switch, therefore to access it or troubleshoot any link connected to it an ip add is used.