H3C Technologies H3C WX5500E Series Access Controllers - Manual (Page 181)

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MSTP features
Developed based on IEEE 802.1s, MSTP overcomes the limitations of STP and RSTP. In addition to the
support for rapid network convergence, it also allows data flows of different VLANs to be forwarded
along separate paths, providing a better load sharing mechanism for redundant links.
MSTP delivers the following features:
• MSTP supports mapping VLANs to MST instances (MSTIs) by means of a VLAN-to-MSTI mapping
table. MSTP can reduce communication overheads and resource usage by mapping multiple
VLANs to one MSTI.
• MSTP divides a switched network into multiple regions, each containing multiple spanning trees
that are independent of one another.
• MSTP prunes a loop network into a loop-free tree, avoiding proliferation and endless cycling of
packets in a loop network. In addition, it provides multiple redundant paths for data forwarding,
supporting load balancing of VLAN data.
• MSTP is compatible with STP and RSTP.
Basic MSTP concepts
Assume that all the four devices in Figure 166 are running MSTP. This section explains some basic
concepts of MSTP based on the figure.
Figure 166 Basic concepts in MSTP