Mstp Overview; Background Of Mstp - 3Com 4200G 12-Port Configuration Manual

MSTP Overview

Background of MSTP

Disadvantages of STP and RSTP
STP does not support rapid state transition of ports. A newly elected root port or designated port must
wait twice the forward delay time before transiting to the forwarding state, even if it is a port on a
point-to-point link or it is an edge port (an edge port refers to a port that directly connects to a user
terminal rather than to another device or a shared LAN segment.)
The rapid spanning tree protocol (RSTP) is an optimized version of STP. RSTP allows a newly elected
root port or designated port to enter the forwarding state much quicker under certain conditions than in
STP. As a result, it takes a shorter time for the network to reach the final topology stability.
In RSTP, the state of a root port can transit fast under the following conditions: the old root port on
the device has stopped forwarding data and the upstream designated port has started forwarding
data.
In RSTP, the state of a designated port can transit fast under the following conditions: the
designated port is an edge port or a port connected with a point-to-point link. If the designated port
is an edge port, it can enter the forwarding state directly; if the designated port is connected with a
point-to-point link, it can enter the forwarding state immediately after the device undergoes
handshake with the downstream device and gets a response.
RSTP supports rapid convergence. Like STP, it is of the following disadvantages: all bridges in a LAN
are on the same spanning tree; redundant links cannot be blocked by VLAN; the packets of all VLANs
are forwarded along the same spanning tree.
Features of MSTP
The multiple spanning tree protocol (MSTP) overcomes the shortcomings of STP and RSTP. In addition
to support for rapid network convergence, it also allows data flows of different VLANs to be forwarded
along their own paths, thus providing a better load sharing mechanism for redundant links.
MSTP features the following:
MSTP supports mapping VLANs to MST instances (MSTIs) by means of a VLAN-to-MSTI mapping
table. MSTP introduces instance (integrates multiple VLANs into a set) and can bind multiple
VLANs to an instance, thus saving communication overhead and improving resource utilization.
MSTP divides a switched network into multiple regions, each containing multiple spanning trees
that are independent of one another.
MSTP prunes a ring network into a network with tree topology, preventing packets from being
duplicated and forwarded in a network endlessly. Furthermore, it offers multiple redundant paths
for forwarding data, and thus achieves load balancing for forwarding VLAN data.
MSTP is compatible with STP and RSTP.
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