Spanning Tree Protocol Flashcards
What is Spanning Tree Protocol?
It’s a Layer 2 link management protocol that keeps Layer 2 loops from occuring and thus prevents Broadcast Storms
Does Spanning Tree Protocol automate failover?
Yes
How many seconds does it take legacy STP to converge?
~50 seconds
What is a core feature of Spanning Tree Protocol?
It detects potential loops and blocks ports to prevent them
Is a Switch a Multi-Port Bridge
Yes
Switches send these out all ports when they come online and these are used to detect other switches and potential loops
BPDUs (Bridge Protocol Data Units)
What state will a port that first comes online be in?
Blocking state
The BPDU contains this, which will uniquely identify the switch on the LAN
Bridge ID
What is the Bridge ID composed of?
The switch’s unique MAC Address and an administrator defined Bridge Priority value
What can the Bridge Priority range be?
0-65535 but in reality it’s only 0-61440 because it goes in increments of 4096
What is the default Bridge Priority?
32768
What is a Root Bridge elected based on?
Bridge ID values (MAC Address and Bridge Priority Value)
True or False: The switch with the highest bridge priority value is preferred
False. Lowest Bridge Priority value is preferred
In the case of a tie of the Bridge Priority Value, how is a Root Bridge determined?
The switch with the lowest MAC Address will be selected
If you have 4 switches that have not had a Bridge Priority value manually set then what will the Bridge Priority be?
32768
True or False: When a switch calculates its best path towards the Root Bridge, higher bandwidth links are preferred?
True
Each switch’s exit interface on the lowest cost path to the Root Bridge is selected as it’s what?
Root Port
True or False: Spanning Tree Protocol does load balancing?
False
True or False: If a switch has multiple equal cost paths towards the Root Bridge, it will select the neighbor switch with the lowest Bridge ID?
True. It will select it based on the lowest MAC Address or a lower assigned Bridge Priority value
If a switch has multiple equal cost paths via the same neighbor switch towards the Root Bridge, it will select the port with what?
Lowest Port ID going to the lowest Bridge ID
Ports on the neighbor switch opposite the root port are called what?
Designated Ports
Root Ports point toward what?
The Root Bridge
Designated Ports always do what in regards to the Root Bridge?
Point away from it
All ports on the Root Bridge are what?
Designated Ports
The Root Ports and Designated Ports are the most direct path(s) to this?
The Root Bridge
On the remaining links that are not Root Ports or Designated Ports, the switches determine which of them has what?
The least-cost path to the root bridge
Any ports which have not been selected as a Root Port or Designated Port pair would potentially form a loop are called what?
Blocking Ports
When a port is blocked, do BPDUs still get sent out and why or why not?
Yes because they still need to make sure the links are still up otherwise they need to failover
What IEEE standard is STP based on?
IEEE 802.1D
Is RSTP a Cisco Proprietary Version or Open Standard?
Open Standard
What IEEE standard is RSTP?
802.1w
What IEEE standard is MSTP (Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol)?
802.1s
What are the Cisco proprietary versions of modern Spanning Tree?
Per VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (PVST+)
Rapid Per VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (RPVST+)