SMC Networks SMC TigerStack III SMC6824MPE - Manual (Page 197)

S
PANNING
T
REE
A
LGORITHM
C
ONFIGURATION
3-147
RSTP is designed as a general replacement for the slower, legacy STP.
RSTP achieves must faster reconfiguration (i.e., around one tenth of the
time required by STP) by reducing the number of state changes before
active ports start learning, predefining an alternate route that can be used
when a node or port fails, and retaining the forwarding database for ports
insensitive to changes in the tree structure when reconfiguration occurs.
Displaying Global Settings
Command Attributes
• Spanning Tree State – Shows if the switch is enabled to participate
in an STA-compliant network.
• Bridge ID – A unique identifier for this bridge, consisting of the
bridge priority and MAC address (where the address is taken from the
switch system).
• Max Age – The maximum time (in seconds) a device can wait without
receiving a configuration message before attempting to reconfigure.
All device ports (except for designated ports) should receive
configuration messages at regular intervals. Any port that ages out STA
information (provided in the last configuration message) becomes the
designated port for the attached LAN. If it is a root port, a new root
port is selected from among the device ports attached to the network.
(References to “ports” in this section mean “interfaces,” which
includes both ports and trunks.)
• Hello Time – Interval (in seconds) at which the root device transmits
a configuration message.
• Forward Delay – The maximum time (in seconds) the root device will
wait before changing states (i.e., discarding to learning to forwarding).
This delay is required because every device must receive information
about topology changes before it starts to forward frames. In addition,
each port needs time to listen for conflicting information that would
make it return to a discarding state; otherwise, temporary data loops
might result.