Switches and Trunking

Am I right in thinking I need to have a VLAN in order to use Trunking?

And what exactly IS trunking?

If I were networking a large number of computers (lets make it scalable from 100 clients upwards) would trunking benefit in terms of communication between the two VLAN's?

I've found a howstuffworks article on it, but does anyone have any better links or some personal advice they might like to give about trunking and setting it up.

 

Trunking allows a network admin to config multiple switches for multiple vlans. If you had a large network with 30 switches and multiple vlans, and you wanted to add or make another vlan, then you would have to config 30 switches. With trunking, you don't. The vlan is available across all switchs that are a member of the trunk.
Here's an article here:

http://www.networknewz.com/2004/0317.html

Also, check cisco's site, as they have tons of stuff on it. Depending on your situation, may be easier to just use VLAN tagging (with only two switches). Also depends on the capabilities of your switches.

Scott
http://www.AAApcMechanic.com