A technique for managing traffic in a multiport network node involves
establishing customer-specific VLANs within the multiport network node
that are identified by a combination of a VLAN ID and a customer ID.
Traffic received at the multiport network node is mapped to a
customer-specific VLAN and then broadcast to ports that are included in
the customer-specific VLAN. Because customer-specific VLANs are
identified by a combination of a VLAN ID and customer ID, a service
provider can establish and maintain private broadcast domains on a
per-customer ID basis. This enables the service provider to expand the
number of unique VLAN IDs within the Service Provider Edge Device beyond
the 4,096 limitation set by the IEEE 802.1Q standard while maintaining
interoperability with the IEEE 802.1Q standard for incoming and outgoing
traffic.