User Manual

DIS-200G Series Industrial Gigabit Ethernet Smart Managed Switch
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by Ethernet switches. The basic function and much of the terminology is the same as STP. Most of the
settings configured for STP are also used for RSTP. This section introduces some new Spanning Tree
concepts and illustrates the main differences between the two protocols.
Port Transition States
An essential difference between the three protocols is in the way ports transition to a forwarding state and
in the way this transition relates to the role of the port (forwarding or not forwarding) in the topology.
MSTP and RSTP combine the transition states disabled, blocking and listening used in 802.1D-1998 and
creates a single state Discarding. In either case, ports do not forward packets. In the STP port transition
states disabled, blocking or listening or in the RSTP/MSTP port state discarding, there is no functional
difference, the port is not active in the network topology. Table 7-3 below compares how the three
protocols differ regarding the port state transition.
All three protocols calculate a stable topology in the same way. Every segment will have a single path to
the root bridge. All bridges listen for BPDU packets. However, BPDU packets are sent more frequently -
with every Hello packet. BPDU packets are sent even if a BPDU packet was not received. Therefore,
each link between bridges is sensitive to the status of the link. Ultimately, this difference results in faster
detection of failed links, and thus faster topology adjustment. A drawback of 802.1D-1998 is this absence
of immediate feedback from adjacent bridges.
802.1Q-2005 MSTP 802.1D-2004 RSTP 802.1D-1998 STP Forwarding Learning
Disabled Disabled Disabled No No
Discarding Discarding Blocking No No
Discarding Discarding Listening No No
Learning Learning Learning No Yes
Forwarding Forwarding Forwarding Yes Yes
RSTP is capable of a more rapid transition to a forwarding state - it no longer relies on timer
configurations - RSTP compliant bridges are sensitive to feedback from other RSTP compliant bridge
links. Ports do not need to wait for the topology to stabilize before transitioning to a forwarding state. In
order to allow this rapid transition, the protocol introduces a new variable: the edge port.
Edge Port
The edge port is a configurable designation used for a port that is directly connected to a segment where
a loop cannot be created. An example would be a port connected directly to a single work- station. Ports
that are designated as edge ports transition to a forwarding state immediately without going through the
listening and learning states. An edge port loses its status if it receives a BPDU packet, immediately
becoming a normal spanning tree port.
802.1D-1998/802.1D-2004/802.1Q-2005 Compatibility
MSTP or RSTP can interoperate with legacy equipment and is capable of automatically adjusting BPDU
packets to 802.1D -1998 format when necessary. However, any segment using 802.1D -1998 STP will not
benefit from the rapid transition and rapid topology change detection of MSTP or RSTP. The protocol also
provides for a variable used for migration in the event that legacy equipment on a segment is updated to
use RSTP or MSTP.
The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) operates on two levels:
1. On the switch level, the settings are globally implemented.
2. On the port level, the settings are implemented on a per-user-defined group of ports basis.