HP 6600 Configuration Manual page 56

Figure 15 The final calculated spanning tree
B
The configuration BPDU forwarding mechanism of STP
The configuration BPDUs of STP are forwarded according to these guidelines:
• Upon network initiation, every device regards itself as the root bridge, generates configuration
BPDUs with itself as the root, and sends the configuration BPDUs at a regular hello interval.
If the root port received a configuration BPDU and the received configuration BPDU is superior to
•
the configuration BPDU of the port, the device increases the message age carried in the
configuration BPDU following a certain rule and starts a timer to time the configuration BPDU while
sending this configuration BPDU through the designated port.
• If the configuration BPDU received on a designated port has a lower priority than the configuration
BPDU of the local port, the port immediately sends its own configuration BPDU in response.
If a path becomes faulty, the root port on this path no longer receives new configuration BPDUs and
•
the old configuration BPDUs will be discarded due to timeout. The device generates a configuration
BPDU with itself as the root and sends the BPDUs and TCN BPDUs. This triggers a new spanning
tree calculation process to establish a new path to restore network connectivity.
However, the newly calculated configuration BPDU cannot be propagated throughout the network
immediately, so the old root ports and designated ports that have not yet detected the topology change
continue to forward data along the old path. If the new root ports and designated ports begin to forward
data as soon as they are elected, a temporary loop might occur.
STP timers
The most important timing parameters in STP calculation are as follows:
• Forward delay—Forward delay is the delay time for port state transition.
A path failure can cause spanning tree recalculation to adapt the spanning tree structure to the
change. However, the resulting new configuration BPDU cannot propagate throughout the
network immediately. If the newly elected root ports and designated ports start to forward data
right away, a temporary loop will likely occur.
For this reason, as a mechanism for state transition in STP, the newly elected root ports or
designated ports require twice the forward delay time before they transit to the forwarding state to
make sure that the new configuration BPDU has propagated throughout the network.
• Hello time—The device sends hello packets at the hello time interval to neighboring devices to make
sure that the paths are valid.
Max age—The device uses the max age to determine whether a stored configuration BPDU has
•
expired, and discards it if the max age is exceeded.
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C
Root bridge
Root port
Designated port
Blocked port
Normal link
Blocked link
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