Overview
10
The network depicted in Figure 12 would continue to operate if one of the
bridges was turned off accidentally, or if a cable between one of the bridges
and a network was unplugged.
By using backup (or redundant) bridges, it is possible to design a network
topology that is extremely resilient to failure. Unlike a normal bridged
network, which minimizes the loss of network availability, networks with
backup bridges may eliminate loss of availability even with multiple
network failures. Figure 13 shows a network configured in such a fashion.
Each subnetwork is connected to a single backbone network, and also to
each of its neighboring networks. Networks A and B can still communicate
after the failure of any other two networks.
Figure 13: Advanced Use of
Backup Bridges
