Cisco Certified Network Professional 2026 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

The command 'vtp pruning' enables VLAN pruning across the VTP (VLAN Trunking Protocol) domain. When VTP pruning is activated, it optimizes the use of bandwidth by restricting the transmission of VLAN traffic only to the trunk links where the VLANs are active. This means that if certain VLANs are not being used on specific trunk links, the protocol will prevent traffic from those VLANs from being sent over the link, thereby reducing unnecessary traffic and improving overall network efficiency.

For instance, if a VLAN is only being used on some switches and not others, under normal circumstances, the VLAN's broadcasts might still be sent across the entire trunk link (which could belong to all switches in the VTP domain). Enabling VTP pruning ensures that only the switches with active VLANs will receive traffic, helping conserve bandwidth and decreasing broadcast traffic across the network. This capability is crucial in larger networks where multiple VLANs may be configured, as it helps maintain performance and reduces unnecessary load on network resources.