User`s manual

18 Asanté IntraCore 36000 Series
between any two stations on the network, preventing the creation of loops. If the path should fail, an
alternate path is activated to maintain the connection.
Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP, IEEE 802.1w) – Reduce the convergence time for network topology
changes to about 10% required by the older IEEE 802.1D STP standard. It is intended as a complete
replacement for STP, but can still interoperate with switches running the older standard by automatically
reconfiguring ports to STP-compliant mode if they detect STP protocol messages from attached devices.
Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP, IEEE 802.1s) –Provide an independent spanning tree for different
VLANs. It simplifies network management, provides for faster convergence than RSTP. It limits the size of
each region, and prevents VLAN members from being segmented from the group (as sometimes occurs with
IEEE 802.1D STP). This protocol is direct extension of RSTP.
Virtual LANs – Provide support for up to 255 VLANs. A Virtual LAN is a collection of network nodes that
share the same collision domain regardless of physical location or connection point in the network. The
switch supports tagged VLANs based on the IEEE 802.1Q standard. Members of VLAN groups can be
dynamically learned using GVRP. You can also manually assigned a port to a specific set of VLANs allowing
the switch to restrict traffic to the VLAN groups where a user is assigned. By segmenting your network into
VLANs, you can:
Eliminate broadcast storms that severely degrade performance in a flat network.
Simplify network management for node changes/moves by remotely configuring VLAN membership for any
port, rather than having to manually change the network connection.
Provide data security by restricting all traffic to the originating VLAN.
Restrict private VLANs to restrict traffic to pass only between data ports and uplink ports. This isolates
adjacent ports within the same VLAN, and allows you to limit the number of VLANs needing configuration.
Restrict traffic to specified interfaces based on protocol type.
Traffic Prioritization – Prioritize each packet based on the required level of service, using eight priority
queues with strict or Weighted Round Robin Queuing. It uses IEEE 802.1p and 802.1Q tags to prioritize
incoming traffic based on input from the end-station application. Use these functions to provide independent
priorities for delay-sensitive data and best-effort data.
This switch also supports several common methods of prioritizing layer 3/4 traffic to meet application
requirements. Traffic is prioritized based on the priority bits in the IP frame’s Type of Service (ToS) octet or
the number of the TCP/UDP port. When these services are enabled, the priorities are mapped to a Class of
Service value by the switch, and the traffic then sent to the corresponding output queue.
Multicast Filtering – Assign specific multicast traffic to its own VLAN to ensure that it does not interfere with
normal network traffic and to guarantee real-time delivery by setting the required priority level for the
designated VLAN. The switch uses IGMP Snooping and Query to manage multicast group registration.