System information
Spanning Tree Algorithm Configuration
3-77
• Priority – Bridge priority is used in selecting the root device, root port, and 
designated port. The device with the highest priority becomes the STA root 
device. However, if all devices have the same priority, the device with the lowest 
MAC address will then become the root device. (Note that lower numeric values 
indicate higher priority.)
- Default: 32768
- Range: 0-61440, in steps of 4096
- Options: 0, 4096, 8192, 12288, 16384, 20480, 24576, 28672, 32768, 36864, 
40960, 45056, 49152, 53248, 57344, 61440
Root Device Configuration
• Hello Time – Interval (in seconds) at which the root device transmits a 
configuration message. 
- Default: 2
-Minimum: 1
- Maximum: The lower of 10 or [(Max. Message Age / 2) -1]
• Maximum Age – The maximum time (in seconds) a device can wait without 
receiving a configuration message before attempting to reconfigure. All device 
ports (except for designated ports) should receive configuration messages at 
regular intervals. Any port that ages out STA information (provided in the last 
configuration message) becomes the designated port for the attached LAN. If it 
is a root port, a new root port is selected from among the device ports attached 
to the network. (References to “ports” in this section mean “interfaces,” which 
includes both ports and trunks.)
- Default: 20
- Minimum: The higher of 6 or [2 x (Hello Time + 1)].
- Maximum: The lower of 40 or [2 x (Forward Delay - 1)]
• Forward Delay – The maximum time (in seconds) this device will wait before 
changing states (i.e., discarding to learning to forwarding). This delay is 
required because every device must receive information about topology 
changes before it starts to forward frames. In addition, each port needs time to 
listen for conflicting information that would make it return to a discarding state; 
otherwise, temporary data loops might result.
- Default: 15
- Minimum: The higher of 4 or [(Max. Message Age / 2) + 1]
- Maximum: 30
Configuration Settings for RSTP 
• Path Cost Method – The path cost is used to determine the best path between 
devices. The path cost method is used to determine the range of values that can 
be assigned to each interface. 
- Long: Specifies 32-bit based values that range from 1-200,000,000. 
(This is the default.)
- Short: Specifies 16-bit based values that range from 1-65535. 
• Transmission Limit – The maximum transmission rate for BPDUs is specified 
by setting the minimum interval between the transmission of consecutive 
protocol messages. (Range: 1-10; Default: 3)










