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Layer 2 forwarding – Brocade Network OS Administrator’s Guide v4.1.1 User Manual

Page 341

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FIGURE 42 Multiple switch fabric configuration

Layer 2 forwarding

Layer 2 Ethernet frames are forwarded on the DCB ports. 802.1Q VLAN support is used to tag incoming
frames to specific VLANs, and 802.3ac VLAN tagging support is used to accept VLAN tagged frames
from external devices.

Network OS uses the following 802.1D bridging protocols between Layer 2 switches and to maintain a
loop-free network environment:

• Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
• Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP)
• Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP)
• Per-VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST+)
• Rapid Per-VLAN Spanning Tree (RPVST+)

Layer 2 forwarding

Network OS Administrator’s Guide

341

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