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2 how stp works – ZyXEL Communications MES-2110 User Manual

Page 90

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Chapter 11 Bridge

MES-2110 User’s Guide

90

On each bridge, the root port is the port through which this bridge communicates
with the root. It is the port on this switch with the lowest path cost to the root (the
root path cost). If there is no root port, then this switch has been accepted as the
root bridge of the spanning tree network.

For each LAN segment, a designated bridge is selected. This bridge has the lowest
cost to the root among the bridges connected to the LAN.

11.1.2 How STP Works

After a bridge determines the lowest cost-spanning tree with STP, it enables the
root port and the ports that are the designated ports for connected LANs, and
disables all other ports that participate in STP. Network frames are therefore only
forwarded between enabled ports, eliminating any possible network loops.

STP-aware switches exchange Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs) periodically.
When the bridged LAN topology changes, a new spanning tree is constructed.

Once a stable network topology has been established, all bridges listen for Hello
BPDUs (Bridge Protocol Data Units) transmitted from the root bridge. If a bridge
does not get a Hello BPDU after a predefined interval (Max Age), the bridge
assumes that the link to the root bridge is down. This bridge then initiates
negotiations with other bridges to reconfigure the network to re-establish a valid
network topology.

Path
Cost

16Mbps

62

40 to 400

1 to 65535

Path
Cost

100Mbps

19

10 to 60

1 to 65535

Path
Cost

1Gbps

4

3 to 10

1 to 65535

Path
Cost

10Gbps

2

1 to 5

1 to 65535

Table 23 STP Path Costs

LINK
SPEED

RECOMMENDED
VALUE

RECOMMENDED
RANGE

ALLOWED
RANGE