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PowerConnect B-Series FCX Configuration Guide 231
53-1002266-01
Configuring STP related features
8
Edge ports and edge port roles
The Dell implementation of 802.1W allows ports that are configured as Edge ports to be present in
an 802.1W topology. (Figure 27). Edge ports are ports of a bridge that connect to workstations or
computers. Edge ports do not register any incoming BPDU activities.
Edge ports assume Designated port roles. Port flapping does not cause any topology change
events on Edge ports since 802.1W does not consider Edge ports in the spanning tree calculations.
FIGURE 27 Topology with edge ports
However, if any incoming RST BPDU is received from a previously configured Edge port, 802.1W
automatically makes the port as a non-edge port. This is extremely important to ensure a loop free
Layer 2 operation since a non-edge port is part of the active RSTP topology.
The 802.1W protocol can auto-detect an Edge port and a non-edge port. An administrator can also
configure a port to be an Edge port using the CLI. It is recommended that Edge ports are
configured explicitly to take advantage of the Edge port feature, instead of allowing the protocol to
auto-detect them.
Point-to-point ports
To take advantage of the 802.1W features, ports on an 802.1W topology should be explicitly
configured as point-to-point links using the CLI. Shared media should not be configured as
point-to-point links.
Switch 1
Bridge priority = 600
Switch 2
Bridge priority = 1000
Switch 3
Bridge priority = 2000
Port2 Port2
Port3
Port3
Port3
Port2
Port5
Edge Port
Port5
Edge Port