Technical Reference; Wan Ip Address Assignment; Spanning Tree Protocol (Stp) - ZyXEL Communications nwa1100-n User Manual

Chapter 10 IP Screen

10.5 Technical Reference

This section provides the technical background information about the topics covered in this chapter.

10.5.1 WAN IP Address Assignment

Every computer on the Internet must have a unique IP address. If your networks are isolated from
the Internet (only between your two branch offices, for instance) you can assign any IP addresses
to the hosts without problems. However, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has
reserved the following three blocks of IP addresses specifically for private networks.
Table 24 Private IP Address Ranges
10.0.0.0
172.16.0.0
192.168.0.0
You can obtain your IP address from the IANA, from an ISP or have it assigned by a private
network. If you belong to a small organization and your Internet access is through an ISP, the ISP
can provide you with the Internet addresses for your local networks. On the other hand, if you are
part of a much larger organization, you should consult your network administrator for the
appropriate IP addresses.
Note: Regardless of your particular situation, do not create an arbitrary IP address;
always follow the guidelines above. For more information on address assignment,
please refer to RFC 1597, Address Allocation for Private Internets and RFC 1466,
Guidelines for Management of IP Address Space.

10.5.2 Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) detects and breaks network loops and provides backup links between
switches, bridges or routers. It allows a bridge to interact with other STP-compliant bridges in your
network to ensure that only one route exists between any two stations on the network.
10.5.2.1 Rapid STP
The NWA uses IEEE 802.1w RSTP (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol) that allow faster convergence of
the spanning tree (while also being backwards compatible with STP-only aware bridges). Using
RSTP topology change information does not have to propagate to the root bridge and unwanted
learned addresses are flushed from the filtering database. In RSTP, the port states are Discarding,
Learning, and Forwarding.
10.5.2.2 STP Terminology
The root bridge is the base of the spanning tree; it is the bridge with the lowest identifier value
(MAC address).
92
- 10.255.255.255
- 172.31.255.255
- 192.168.255.255
NWA1100-N User's Guide