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Summit 200 Series Switch Installation and User Guide 183
14 Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
This chapter describes the following topics:
• Overview of the Spanning Tree Protocol on page 183
• Spanning Tree Domains on page 183
• STP Configurations on page 184
• Configuring STP on the Switch on page 186
• Displaying STP Settings on page 189
• Disabling and Resetting STP on page 189
Using the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) functionality of the switch makes your network more fault
tolerant. The following sections explain more about STP and the STP features supported by
ExtremeWare.
NOTE
STP is a part of the 802.1D bridge specification defined by the IEEE Computer Society. To explain STP
in terms used by the 802.1D specification, the switch will be referred to as a bridge.
Overview of the Spanning Tree Protocol
STP is a bridge-based mechanism for providing fault tolerance on networks. STP allows you to
implement parallel paths for network traffic, and ensure that:
• Redundant paths are disabled when the main paths are operational.
• Redundant paths are enabled if the main path fails.
Spanning Tree Domains
The switch can be partitioned into multiple virtual bridges. Each virtual bridge can run an independent
Spanning Tree instance. Each Spanning Tree instance is called a Spanning Tree Domain (STPD). Each
STPD has its own root bridge and active path. Once the STPD is created, one or more VLANs can be
assigned to it. A port can belong to only one STPD. If a port is a member of multiple VLANs, then all
those VLANs must belong to the same STPD.