TP-Link T1700X-16TS User Manual page 108

packets from the upstream switch and spanning trees are regenerated, and thereby loops can be
prevented.
Root Protect

A CIST and its secondary root bridges are usually located in the high-bandwidth core region.
Wrong configuration or malicious attacks may result in configuration BPDU packets with higher
priorities being received by the legal root bridge, which causes the current legal root bridge to lose
its position and network topology jitter to occur. In this case, flows that should travel along
high-speed links may lead to low-speed links, and network congestion may occur.
To avoid this, MSTP provides root protect function. Ports with this function enabled can only be set
as designated ports in all spanning tree instances. When a port of this type receives BDPU
packets with higher priority, it transits its state to blocking state and stops forwarding packets (as if
it is disconnected from the link). The port resumes the normal state if it does not receive any
configuration BPDU packets with higher priorities for a period of two times of forward delay.
TC Protect

A switch removes MAC address entries upon receiving TC-BPDU packets. If a user maliciously
sends a large amount of TC-BPDU packets to a switch in a short period, the switch will be busy
with removing MAC address entries, which may decrease the performance and stability of the
network.
To prevent the switch from frequently removing MAC address entries, you can enable the TC
protect function on the switch. With TC protect function enabled, if the account number of the
received TC-BPDUs exceeds the maximum number you set in the TC threshold field, the switch
will not performs the removing operation in the TC protect cycle. Such a mechanism prevents the
switch from frequently removing MAC address entries.
BPDU Protect

Ports of the switch directly connected to PCs or servers are configured as edge ports to rapidly
transit their states. When these ports receive BPDUs, the system automatically configures these
ports as non-edge ports and regenerates spanning trees, which may cause network topology jitter.
Normally these ports do not receive BPDUs, but if a user maliciously attacks the switch by sending
BPDUs, network topology jitter occurs.
To prevent this attack, MSTP provides BPDU protect function. With this function enabled on the
switch, the switch shuts down the edge ports that receive BPDUs and reports these cases to the
administrator. If a port is shut down, only the administrator can restore it.
BPDU Filter

BPDU filter function is to prevent BPDUs flood in the STP network. If a switch receives malicious
BPDUs, it forwards these BPDUs to the other switched in the network, which may result in
spanning trees being continuously regenerated. In this case, the switch occupying too much CPU
or the protocol status of BPDUs is wrong.
With BPDU filter function enabled, a port does not receive or forward BPDUs, but it sends out its
own BPDUs. Such a mechanism prevents the switch from being attacked by BPDUs so as to
guarantee generation the spanning trees correct.
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