V

vapor corrosion inhibitor (VCI)

Small cylinder packed with the router that prevents corrosion of the chassis and components during shipment.

virtual circuit

Represents a logical connection between two Layer 2 devices in a network.

virtual circuit identifier (VCI)

A 16-bit field in the header of an ATM cell that indicates the particular virtual circuit the cell takes through a virtual path. Also called a logical interface.

virtual link

In OSPF, a link created between two routers that are part of the backbone but are not physically contiguous.

virtual local area network (VLAN)

A grouping of end hosts within a single IP subnet. These hosts usually reside on multiple physical segments and are connected through a Layer 2 Ethernet switched network.

virtual path

A combination of multiple virtual circuits between two devices in an ATM network.

virtual path identifier (VPI)

The 8-bit field in the header of an ATM cell that indicates the virtual path the cell takes. See also virtual circuit identifier (VCI).

virtual private network (VPN)

A private data network that makes use of a public TCP/IP network, typically the Internet, while maintaining privacy with a tunneling protocol, encryption, and security procedures.

Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)

On Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, allows you to configure virtual default routers.