Spanning Tree Protocol; Spa Nning T Re E Pro To C O L; Spanning Tree Protocol Overview; What You Can Do - ZyXEL Communications GS1350 Series User Manual

13.1 Spa nning T re e Pro to c o l O ve rvie w
The Switch supports Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) as defined in
the following standards.
• IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol
• IEEE 802.1w Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol
13.1.1 Wha t Yo u C a n Do
• Use the
Ra pid Spa nning T re e Pro to c o l Sta tus
• Use the
Ra pid Spa nning T re e Pro to c o l
13.1.2 Wha t Yo u Ne e d to Kno w
Read on for concepts on STP that can help you configure the screens in this chapter.
(Ra pid) Spa nning T re e Pro to c o l
(R)STP detects and breaks network loops and provides backup links between switches, bridges or
routers. It allows a switch to interact with other (R)STP -compliant switches in your network to ensure that
only one path exists between any two stations on the network.
The Switch uses IEEE 802.1w RSTP (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol) that allows faster convergence of the
spanning tree than STP (while also being backwards compatible with STP-only aware bridges). In RSTP,
topology change information is directly propagated throughout the network from the device that
generates the topology change. In STP, a longer delay is required as the device that causes a topology
change first notifies the root bridge that then notifies the network. Both RSTP and STP flush unwanted
learned addresses from the filtering database. In RSTP, the port states are Discarding, Learning, and
Forwarding.
Note: In this user's guide, "STP" refers to both STP and RSTP.
ST P T e rm ino lo g y
The root bridge is the base of the spanning tree.
Path cost is the cost of transmitting a frame onto a LAN through that port. The recommended cost is
assigned according to the speed of the link to which a port is attached. The slower the media, the
Chapter 13 Spanning Tree Protocol

Spa nning T re e Pro to c o l

GS1350 Series User's Guide
C
HA PTER
screen (Section 13.2 on page
screen (Section 13.3 on page
144
1 3
146) to view the RSTP status.
147) to configure RSTP settings.