Ist, Cist, And Cst; Ist, Cist, And Cst Overview; Spanning Tree Operation Within An Mst Region - Cisco Nexus 3000 series Configuration Manual

IST, CIST, and CST

IST, CIST, and CST

IST, CIST, and CST Overview

Unlike Rapid PVST+, in which all the STP instances are independent, MST establishes and maintains IST,
CIST, and CST spanning trees, as follows:
• An IST is the spanning tree that runs in an MST region.
MST establishes and maintains additional spanning trees within each MST region; these spanning trees are
called, multiple spanning tree instances (MSTIs).
Instance 0 is a special instance for a region, known as the IST. The IST always exists on all ports; you cannot
delete the IST, or Instance 0. By default, all VLANs are assigned to the IST. All other MST instances are
numbered from 1 to 4094.
The IST is the only STP instance that sends and receives BPDUs. All of the other MSTI information is
contained in MST records (M-records), which are encapsulated within MST BPDUs.
All MSTIs within the same region share the same protocol timers, but each MSTI has its own topology
parameters, such as the root bridge ID, the root path cost, and so forth.
An MSTI is local to the region; for example, MSTI 9 in region A is independent of MSTI 9 in region B, even
if regions A and B are interconnected.
• The CST interconnects the MST regions and any instance of 802.1D and 802.1w STP that may be
• A CIST is a collection of the ISTs in each MST region. The CIST is the same as an IST inside an MST
The spanning tree computed in an MST region appears as a subtree in the CST that encompasses the entire
switched domain. The CIST is formed by the spanning tree algorithm running among switches that support
the 802.1w, 802.1s, and 802.1D standards. The CIST inside an MST region is the same as the CST outside a
region.

Spanning Tree Operation Within an MST Region

The IST connects all the MST switches in a region. When the IST converges, the root of the IST becomes the
CIST regional root. The CIST regional root is also the CIST root if there is only one region in the network.
If the CIST root is outside the region, the protocol selects one of the MST switches at the boundary of the
region as the CIST regional root.
When an MST switch initializes, it sends BPDUs that identify itself as the root of the CIST and the CIST
regional root, with both the path costs to the CIST root and to the CIST regional root set to zero. The switch
also initializes all of its MSTIs and claims to be the root for all of them. If the switch receives superior MST
root information (lower switch ID, lower path cost, and so forth) than the information that is currently stored
for the port, it relinquishes its claim as the CIST regional root.
During initialization, an MST region might have many subregions, each with its own CIST regional root. As
switches receive superior IST information from a neighbor in the same region, they leave their old subregions
Cisco Nexus 3000 Series NX-OS Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide, Release 5.0(3)U1(1)
104
running on the network. The CST is the one STP instance for the entire bridged network and encompasses
all MST regions and 802.1w and 802.1D instances.
region, and the same as a CST outside an MST region.
Configuring Multiple Spanning Tree