Spanning Tree; Stp Overview; Rapid Pvst; Mst - Cisco Nexus 3000 series Configuration Manual

Spanning Tree

Regardless of the combination of isolated and community secondary VLANs, all interfaces within the primary
VLAN comprise one Layer 2 domain, and therefore, require only one IP subnet.
Spanning Tree
This section discusses the implementation of the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP).

STP Overview

STP provides a loop-free network at the Layer 2 level. Layer 2 LAN ports send and receive STP frames,
which are called Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs), at regular intervals. Network devices do not forward
these frames but use the frames to construct a loop-free path.
802.1D is the original standard for STP, and many improvements have enhanced the basic loop-free STP.
You can create a separate loop-free path for each VLAN, which is named Per VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST+).
Additionally, the entire standard was reworked to make the loop-free convergence process faster to keep up
with the faster equipment. This STP standard with faster convergence is the 802.1w standard, which is known
as Rapid Spanning Tree (RSTP).
Finally, the 802.1s standard, Multiple Spanning Trees (MST), allows you to map multiple VLANs into a
single spanning tree instance. Each instance runs an independent spanning tree topology.
Although the software can interoperate with legacy 802.1D systems, the system runs Rapid PVST+ and MST.
You can use either Rapid PVST+ or MST in a given VDC; you cannot mix both in one VDC. Rapid PVST+
is the default STP protocol for Cisco NX-OS for the Cisco Nexus 3000 Series.
Cisco NX-OS for the Cisco Nexus 3000 Series uses the extended system ID and MAC address reduction;
Note
you cannot disable these features.
In addition, Cisco has created some proprietary features to enhance the spanning tree activities.

Rapid PVST+

Rapid PVST+ is the default spanning tree mode for the software and is enabled by default on the default
VLAN and all newly created VLANs.
A single instance, or topology, of RSTP runs on each configured VLAN, and each Rapid PVST+ instance on
a VLAN has a single root device. You can enable and disable STP on a per-VLAN basis when you are running
Rapid PVST+.

MST

The software also supports MST. The multiple independent spanning tree topologies enabled by MST provide
multiple forwarding paths for data traffic, enable load balancing, and reduce the number of STP instances
required to support a large number of VLANs.
MST incorporates RSTP, so it also allows rapid convergence. MST improves the fault tolerance of the network
because a failure in one instance (forwarding path) does not affect other instances (forwarding paths).
Cisco Nexus 3000 Series NX-OS Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide, Release 5.0(3)U1(1)
2
Overview