What is STP?
49
RSTP provides the same functionality as STP. For details on how the two
systems differ, see
“How RSTP Differs to STP”
on
page 52
.
As an example,
Figure 9
shows a network containing three LAN segments
separated by three bridges. With this configuration, each segment can
communicate with the others using two paths. Without STP enabled, this
configuration creates loops that cause the network to overload.
Figure 9
A network configuration that creates loops
Figure 10
shows the result of enabling STP on the bridges in the
configuration. STP detects the duplicate paths and prevents, or
blocks
,
one of them from forwarding traffic, so this configuration will work
satisfactorily. STP has determined that traffic from LAN segment 2 to LAN
segment 1 can only flow through Bridges C and A, because, for example,
this path has a greater bandwidth and is therefore more efficient.
Figure 10
Traffic flowing through Bridges C and A
Summary of Contents for 3C17203 - SuperStack 3 Switch 4400
Page 8: ...GLOSSARY INDEX ...
Page 14: ...14 ...
Page 26: ...26 CHAPTER 1 SWITCH FEATURES OVERVIEW ...
Page 44: ...44 CHAPTER 3 USING MULTICAST FILTERING ...
Page 55: ...How STP Works 55 Figure 13 STP configurations ...
Page 58: ...58 CHAPTER 4 USING RESILIENCE FEATURES ...
Page 84: ...84 CHAPTER 7 STATUS MONITORING AND STATISTICS ...
Page 92: ...92 CHAPTER 8 SETTING UP VIRTUAL LANS ...
Page 98: ...98 CHAPTER 9 USING WEBCACHE SUPPORT ...
Page 120: ...120 CHAPTER 12 POWER MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL ...
Page 122: ...122 ...
Page 126: ...126 APPENDIX A CONFIGURATION RULES ...
Page 134: ...134 APPENDIX B NETWORK CONFIGURATION EXAMPLES ...
Page 150: ...150 GLOSSARY ...