Layer 2 Networking Flashcards
What is 802.1D
Common spamming tree
What are the port roles for STP (802.1D)
Disabled – Port is admin shut down.
Blocking – port is not forwarding any traffic to prevent loops it will on receive BPDU’s
Listening – port is still blocking (Can send and receive BPDUs)
Learning – The port can now modify the MAC address table. It only forwards BPDUs
Forwarding – the port can now forward all traffic and fully update MAC table.
Broken – Port detects problem and port is broke until fixed.
What are the port types for STP (802.1D)
Route Port (RP) – the route port is the port that faces or connects to the route bridge on any switch in the spanning tree topology. There should only be one per VLAN per switch.
Designated Port (DP) – A port that receives and send BPDUs to other switches. They provide connectivity to downstream switches, there should only be one per link.
Blocking Port (BP) – A port not forwarding traffic due to STP calculations.
how many types of BPDUs are there and what is their purpose?
Configuration BPDU - includes all info on the STP topology and timers.
Topology change BPDU - information relevant to recent topology changes.
What is the default system priority for STP?
32768
What is the STP ‘max age timer’ and what is the default value?
Maximum amount of time a switch will hold on to the BPDU information before assuming the root sending the BPDUs is down.
Default timer 20 seconds
What is the ‘hello timer’ and what is the default value
The time interval between BPDU packets been sent out.
default is 2 seconds.
What is the ‘forward delay’ and what is the default value
The amount of time the STP switch stays in listening & learning state.
default is 15 seconds.
What determines which switch becomes the root bridge?
The switch with the lowest root bridge priority.
How is the root port identified on a bridge, if there is a match what next?
- Interface with the lowest STP path cost to the root bridge.
- Interface with the lowest system ID.
- Interface with the lowest MAC address.
- Lowest port priority of neighbouring switch.
- Lowest port number of local switch.
The designated/blocking ports are decided on the same method as the root port.
True or False.
True.
What happens when there is a topology change? e.g. link failure.
- Link failure detected on a switch.
- hat switch sends out a configuration BPDU with the TCN flag set.
- All switches flush there MAC address tables of MACs older than 15 seconds (this is in order to maintain comms with switches still active.)
What is 802.1W
RSTP
What are the 802.1W RSTP port states
Discarding
Learning
Forwarding
What is the benefit of PVST/PVST+ over 802.1D
It allows multiple spanning tree instances on a Layer 2 topology by having one vlan per spanning tree topology.
What is Rapid PVST
It combines RSTP quick convergence with cisco’s PVST protocol to allow multiple vlan’s in the layer 2 topology.
What is the main benefit over MST over PVST
MST allows multiple vlans with the same spanning tree instance to be mapped to one Multi spanning tree instance therefore reducing CPU resources.