Spanning Tree Protocol Flashcards

1
Q

What is Spanning Tree Protocol?

A

It’s a Layer 2 link management protocol that keeps Layer 2 loops from occuring and thus prevents Broadcast Storms

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2
Q

Does Spanning Tree Protocol automate failover?

A

Yes

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3
Q

How many seconds does it take legacy STP to converge?

A

~50 seconds

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4
Q

What is a core feature of Spanning Tree Protocol?

A

It detects potential loops and blocks ports to prevent them

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5
Q

Is a Switch a Multi-Port Bridge

A

Yes

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6
Q

Switches send these out all ports when they come online and these are used to detect other switches and potential loops

A

BPDUs (Bridge Protocol Data Units)

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7
Q

What state will a port that first comes online be in?

A

Blocking state

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8
Q

The BPDU contains this, which will uniquely identify the switch on the LAN

A

Bridge ID

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9
Q

What is the Bridge ID composed of?

A

The switch’s unique MAC Address and an administrator defined Bridge Priority value

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10
Q

What can the Bridge Priority range be?

A

0-65535 but in reality it’s only 0-61440 because it goes in increments of 4096

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11
Q

What is the default Bridge Priority?

A

32768

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12
Q

What is a Root Bridge elected based on?

A

Bridge ID values (MAC Address and Bridge Priority Value)

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13
Q

True or False: The switch with the highest bridge priority value is preferred

A

False. Lowest Bridge Priority value is preferred

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14
Q

In the case of a tie of the Bridge Priority Value, how is a Root Bridge determined?

A

The switch with the lowest MAC Address will be selected

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15
Q

If you have 4 switches that have not had a Bridge Priority value manually set then what will the Bridge Priority be?

A

32768

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16
Q

True or False: When a switch calculates its best path towards the Root Bridge, higher bandwidth links are preferred?

A

True

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17
Q

Each switch’s exit interface on the lowest cost path to the Root Bridge is selected as it’s what?

A

Root Port

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18
Q

True or False: Spanning Tree Protocol does load balancing?

A

False

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19
Q

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?

A

True. It will select it based on the lowest MAC Address or a lower assigned Bridge Priority value

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20
Q

If a switch has multiple equal cost paths via the same neighbor switch towards the Root Bridge, it will select the port with what?

A

Lowest Port ID going to the lowest Bridge ID

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21
Q

Ports on the neighbor switch opposite the root port are called what?

A

Designated Ports

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22
Q

Root Ports point toward what?

A

The Root Bridge

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23
Q

Designated Ports always do what in regards to the Root Bridge?

A

Point away from it

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24
Q

All ports on the Root Bridge are what?

A

Designated Ports

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25
Q

The Root Ports and Designated Ports are the most direct path(s) to this?

A

The Root Bridge

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26
Q

On the remaining links that are not Root Ports or Designated Ports, the switches determine which of them has what?

A

The least-cost path to the root bridge

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27
Q

Any ports which have not been selected as a Root Port or Designated Port pair would potentially form a loop are called what?

A

Blocking Ports

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28
Q

When a port is blocked, do BPDUs still get sent out and why or why not?

A

Yes because they still need to make sure the links are still up otherwise they need to failover

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29
Q

What IEEE standard is STP based on?

A

IEEE 802.1D

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30
Q

Is RSTP a Cisco Proprietary Version or Open Standard?

A

Open Standard

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31
Q

What IEEE standard is RSTP?

A

802.1w

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32
Q

What IEEE standard is MSTP (Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol)?

A

802.1s

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33
Q

What are the Cisco proprietary versions of modern Spanning Tree?

A

Per VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (PVST+)
Rapid Per VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (RPVST+)

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34
Q

Does PVST+ allow load balancing?

A

Yes

35
Q

What is different between MSTP and PVST+ or RPVST+?

A

MSTP allows grouping multiple VLANs into different spanning tree instances

PVST+ or RPVST+ do not allow this. You have one spanning tree instance for every VLAN

36
Q

If you had 20 VLANS on a switch running RPVST+ how many Spanning Tree instances would be running?

A
  1. One for every VLAN
37
Q

What is the default version on most Cisco switches?

A

PVST+

38
Q

PVST+ will assign the _____, ______ or _______ role to ports?

A

Root, Designated or Alternate

39
Q

Alternate Ports for PVST+ are considered what?

A

Blocking Ports

40
Q

What is the Short-Mode Cost of 10Mbps?

A

100

41
Q

What is the Short-Mode Cost of 100Mbps?

A

19

42
Q

What is the Short-Mode Cost of 1 Gbps?

A

4

43
Q

What is the Short-Mode Cost of 10 Gbps?

A

2

44
Q

What is the Short-Mode Cost of 20 Gbps?

A

1

45
Q

What is the Short-Mode Cost of 100 Gbps?

A

1

46
Q

What is the Short-Mode Cost of 1 Tbps?

A

1

47
Q

What is the Short-Mode Cost of 10 Tbps?

A

1

48
Q

What is the command to verify Spanning Tree?

A

show spanning-tree {vlan-id}

49
Q

What version of Spanning Tree is running if the output shows “ieee”

A

PVST+

50
Q

On a show spanning tree command, what is the Root ID section telling you about?

A

Tells you about the Root Bridge, which might not necessarily be the switch you’re looking at the output on

51
Q

On a show spanning tree command, what is the Bridge ID section telling you about?

A

This is actually giving you information about the switch you’re running the command on

52
Q

If you have a switch in a network that is the oldest switch in the network will it be the Root Bridge if all switches in the LAN have a Bridge Priority value of 32768?

A

Yes. If all switches are defaulted to 32768, then the oldest switch (oldest MAC) will likely become the Root Bridge

53
Q

How would you manually elect a Root Bridge for VLAN 1?

A

spanning-tree vlan 1 root primary

54
Q

How would you manually elect a Secondary Root Bridge for VLAN 1?

A

spanning-tree vlan 1 root secondary

55
Q

What value will be given to the Bridge Priority value if the root primary command is used?

A

24576

56
Q

What value will be given to the Bridge Priority value if the root secondary command is used?

A

28672

57
Q

What command would you use to manually set the Priority Value?

A

spanning tree {vlan-id} priority {priority-value}

58
Q

What is the range of valid priority numbers for Spanning Tree?

A

0-61440

59
Q

What increment must be used in manual specification for Priority numbers?

A

4096

60
Q

If you entered a Priority value of 5000 what would happen?

A

It would error out since it’s not an increment of 4096

61
Q

Can you use the primary / secondary commands along with setting a manual Priority value?

A

No, use one or the other

62
Q

What is the purpose of STP Portfast?

A

Used for end host ports because those ports don’t need Layer 2 loop prevention

63
Q

How would you configure portfast on an access port?

A

int {int}
spanning-tree portfast

64
Q

How would you enable portfast globally on a switch?

A

spanning-tree portfast default

65
Q

If you do enable portfast by default globally on a switch, what do you need to make sure you do?

A

Disable the portfast on the interfaces connecting the switches together because they will need to be checking for Layer 2 loops

66
Q

How would you disable portfast on an interface?

A

int {int}
no spanning-tree portfast

67
Q

What is BPDU guard?

A

This is basically a port that’s been configured as a Portfast port listening for BPDUs coming from any end host on the other side. If a BPDU is received then the switch knows another switch is plugged in on the other side will shut it down immediately because it could potentially form a loop

68
Q

True or False: Portfast and BPDU Guard should always be used simultaneously?

A

True

69
Q

How do you enable BPDU Guard on an access port?

A

int {int}
spanning-tree bpduguard enable

70
Q

How do you enable BPDU Guard globally on a switch?

A

spanning-tree portfast bpduguard default

71
Q

If a portfast port has been errdisabled by receiving BPDUs what should you do to bring it back?

A

First, correct the issue
then:
shut
no shut

72
Q

What is another command other than shut no shut on an int that would bring a portfast port back in service after it’s been shut due to receiving BPDUs?

A

errdisable recovery cause bpduguard
errdisable recovery interval 30

73
Q

If you had two switches - one primary and one secondary what command could you use to make sure no other switch ever got introduced that had a superior priority value and thus became the root bridge?

A

int {int}
spanning-tree guard root

74
Q

True or False: Spanning Tree Guard Root is enabled at the interface level?

A

True

75
Q

What 4 mode states does STP have in order?

Also, what other mode state does it have where the port doesn’t even participate in STP?

A

Blocking
Listening
Learning
Forwarding

Disabled

76
Q

Switch port enters the __________ state at time of election process, when a switch receives a BPDU on a port that indicates a better path to the Root Switch or if a port is not a Root Port.

A

Blocking

77
Q

In this state, STP determines whether the port should participate in frame forwarding or not.

A

Listening

78
Q

Switch port enters _________ state after passing through the listening state as per the decision taken by STP.

A

Learning

79
Q

Switch port enters __________ state after passing through all the states involved in creation of network topology.

A

Forwarding

80
Q

Switch port enters the _________ state as a result of an administrative command to disable the port.

A

Disabled

81
Q

Port does not participate in any operation of STP because it is considered non-operational.

A

Disabled

82
Q

Ports receive, process, and transmit BPDUs received from the system module in this mode state.

A

Learning

83
Q

________ state is the first transitional state after blocking state.

A

Listening

84
Q

Where would you enable Root Guard?

A

Use Root Guard only on uplink ports that connect to switches or devices that should never become the root bridge. These are typically connections to distribution or core switches.