STRIDE SE-MC2U-SC, User Manual

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Real-Time Ring Settings
The Real-Time Ring Settings page, accessed through the Redundancy Settings, allows
configuration of Real-Time Ring protocol in supported switches.
A real-time ring increases network reliability by providing an alternative path for message
flow in the event of a network segment failure. When a ring port detects a communications
break, it quickly notifies the other switches in the ring. Messages are automatically rerouted
through the alternative ring path within milliseconds.
STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) is more flexible than a ring configuration, but recovery times
for spanning trees may be in the hundreds of milliseconds. The real-time ring protocol
exchanges topological flexibility for recovery times in the tens of milliseconds.
Activate a ring by selecting the appropriate Enable check box. You can configure one ring for
every two ports on the switch.
When a ring is enabled, be sure to choose the two ports being used to connect the switch into
that particular ring. To do so, pick ports from the Primary Port and Backup Port dropdown
lists. Each port should be assigned to only one ring.
The pair(s) or ports assigned to ring(s) should be excluded from Spanning Tree on the
Spanning Tree Ports Setup page.
The port defined as Backup will be blocked under normal operating conditions. By default,
the switch with the lowest numbered MAC address in a ring will be the master switch,
meaning that the communication in the ring will be blocked from one of the two ring ports
of that switch. Only the master switch in a ring does this. You may designate a different
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Chapter 4 - Managed Switch Software Setup
Stride Industrial Ethernet Switches User Manual 2nd Ed. Rev. A