STRIDE SE-MC2U-SC, User Manual

Page: 67 / 230

Stride Industrial Ethernet Switches User Manual 2nd Ed. Rev. B
Chapter 2 - Managed Switch Quick Start
the network to go down. Utilizing the Spanning Tree and/or Real-Time Ring feature of the
Stride managed switch can reduce these risks.
• STP: The Spanning Tree protocol simply allows you to purposely create a ring that allows for
multiple, redundant paths on the network but intelligently decides one path when the network
comes up and assigns alternate paths if some part of the original path goes down.
• RSTP: The Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol is the preferred method in the industry today as the
manner in which it decides the original paths and the time in which it changes over to alternate
paths is much, much faster than the original Spanning Tree Protocol. It is really only useful to
enable the older STP if your legacy network requires this protocol. The RSTP feature is enabled by
default.
• Real-Time Ring:
In many Control Systems, the time it takes for the RSTP algorithm to change
paths upon some network event is too slow. The Real-Time Ring is proprietary to the Stride
managed switches but it has the advantage of changing paths very, very quickly.
Security:
Network security has become a great concern for facilities these days. And while the network
devices themselves are only one part of a network security strategy, the Stride managed
switches have several security features:
• Port Control: In the “Port Settings” setup, you can disable ports that are not being used. This can
limit unauthorized access.
• Security Settings: There are several different methods of enabling security in the switch. There
are security methods to prevent access to the switch (Remote Access Security), you can determine
which devices can connect to the switch (Port Security MAC Entries) and you can enable
encryption for data going between switches (IPsec).
• Remote Access Security: You can disable access to the switch or implement secure pass-wording in
order to access the switch.
• IPsec: There are many different methods that can be employed to encrypt the data going to
or from the switch. The particular method (encryption protocol/algorithm) will most likely be
determined by your network administrator.
2-17