Setting Interface Roles - HP ProCurve 7000dl Series Basic Management And Configuration Manual

Bridging—Transmitting Non-IP Traffic or Merging Two Networks
Configuring Spanning Tree
Another way to force the router to choose one connection over another is to
set the port priority. The router only uses this value to choose between two
interfaces that have equal cost connections to the root. To set a logical
interface's port priority, enter:
Syntax: spanning-tree port-priority <value>
Valid values are between 1 and 255. Remember that lower values grant higher
priority to the connection. You can only enter values in increments of 16.

Setting Interface Roles

RSTP allows you to define special characteristics for certain ports. These
categories speed convergence. Edge ports immediately begin to forward
frames. Point-to-point interfaces use sync for rapid activation. (See the "RSTP
Improvements" on page 10-14 for more information.)
It is important that interfaces be set to the proper role so that the router can
capitalize on RSTP improvements. The ProCurve Secure Router automatically
assigns interfaces the roles that they will almost always play.
Interfaces automatically determine whether they are on point-to-point or
shared media connections according to the duplex setting. However, if the
router connects to a hub, you can manually force the connecting interface to
the shared media role.
If the router connects to an end device, you should configure edge port
settings.
Configuring an Edge Port. The edge port designation allows interfaces
that connect to end devices to immediately enter the forwarding state. This
prevents applications on the end device from timing out while they wait for
their default gateway to come up. Currently, you will almost always connect
your ProCurve Secure Router to a core switch or comparable device, so the
edge port option is disabled by default.
However, the ProCurve Secure Router does support edge port capabilities.
You can enable these capabilities either globally or on an individual interface.
Use the commands shown in Table 10-2.
10-19