Processing Inferior Bpdu Information; Spanning-Tree Dispute Mechanism; Port Cost - Cisco Nexus 3000 series Configuration Manual

Configuring Rapid PVST+
If the received BPDU is a Rapid PVST+ BPDU with the proposal flag set, the switch sends an agreement
message after all of the other ports are synchronized. The new root port transitions to the forwarding state as
soon as the previous port reaches the blocking state.
If the superior information received on the port causes the port to become a backup port or an alternate port,
Rapid PVST+ sets the port to the blocking state and sends an agreement message. The designated port continues
sending BPDUs with the proposal flag set until the forward-delay timer expires. At that time, the port transitions
to the forwarding state.

Processing Inferior BPDU Information

An inferior BPDU is a BPDU with root information (such as a higher switch ID or higher path cost) that is
inferior to what is currently stored for the port.
If a designated port receives an inferior BPDU, it immediately replies with its own information.

Spanning-Tree Dispute Mechanism

The software checks the consistency of the port role and state in the received BPDUs to detect unidirectional
link failures that could cause bridging loops.
When a designated port detects a conflict, it keeps its role, but reverts to a discarding state because disrupting
connectivity in case of inconsistency is preferable to opening a bridging loop.
The following figure illustrates a unidirectional link failure that typically creates a bridging loop. Switch A
is the root bridge, and its BPDUs are lost on the link leading to switch B. The 802.1w-standard BPDUs include
the role and state of the sending port. With this information, switch A can detect that switch B does not react
to the superior BPDUs it sends and that switch B is the designated, not root port. As a result, switch A blocks
(or keeps blocking) its port, thus preventing the bridging loop. The block is shown as an STP dispute.
Figure 13: Detecting Unidirectional Link Failure

Port Cost

Note Rapid PVST+ uses the short (16-bit) pathcost method to calculate the cost by default. With the short
pathcost method, you can assign any value in the range of 1 to 65535. However, you can configure the
switch to use the long (32-bit) pathcost method, which allows you to assign any value in the range of 1
to 200,000,000. You configure the pathcost calculation method globally.
The STP port path-cost default value is determined from the media speed and path-cost calculation method
of a LAN interface. If a loop occurs, STP considers the port cost when selecting a LAN interface to put into
the forwarding state.
Cisco Nexus 3000 Series NX-OS Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide, Release 5.0(3)U1(1)
Understanding Rapid PVST+
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