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Spanning-Tree Protocol is a link management protocol that provides path redundancy while
preventing undesirable loops in the network. For an Ethernet network to function properly, only
one active path can exist between two stations.

Multiple active paths between stations cause loops in the network. If a loop exists in the network
topology, the potential exists for duplication of messages. When loops occur, some switches see
stations appear on both sides of the switch. This condition confuses the forwarding algorithm and
allows duplicate frames to be forwarded.

To provide path redundancy, Spanning-Tree Protocol defines a tree that spans all switches in an
extended network. Spanning-Tree Protocol forces certain redundant data paths into a standby
(blocked) state. If one network segment in the Spanning-Tree Protocol becomes unreachable, or
if Spanning-Tree Protocol costs change, the spanning-tree algorithm reconfigures the spanning-
tree topology and reestablishes the link by activating the standby path.

Spanning-Tree Protocol operation is transparent to end stations, which are unaware whether they
are connected to a single LAN segment or a switched LAN of multiple segments.

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The spanning-tree operations are as follows:

¦| STP elects a Root Bridge and both the ports of the Root Bridge are designated ports and
are placed in the forwarding state.
¦| The non Root Bridge considers one of its ports as a root port with the least administrative
cost and the other port considers as a non designated port. Root port placed in the
forwarding state in the blocking state while the non designated port is in the blocking
state.

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The STP algorithm selects the Root Bridge first:

¦| Root Bridge is the switch with the lowest Bridge ID and Bridge ID consists of bridge
priority and MAC address . The lowest bridge priority chosen first, the default bridge
priority value is 32768; if the bridge priority is same then the lowest MAC address will
be chosen.
¦| Messages are sent to each switch through BPDU frame. The Bridge Protocol Data Unit
(BPDU) frame is also called Hello. By default, Hello messages are sent after every 2
seconds.
¦| If a switch receives BPDU that is lowest then its self, the switch forwards that BPDU,
claiming it to be the root port.
¦| Cost is calculated by adding the cost in the received BPDU to the cost of the interface the
BPDU was received.





BPDUs contain information about the transmitting switch and its ports, including switch and port
Media Access Control (MAC) addresses, switch priority, port priority, and port cost. The
Spanning-Tree Protocol uses this information to elect the root switch and root port for the
switched network, as well as the root port and designated port for each switched segment.

Figure C-1 shows how BPDUs enable a Spanning-Tree Protocol topology.












 
 
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The stable active topology of a switched network is determined by the following:

¦| The unique switch identifier (MAC address) associated with each switch.
¦| The path cost to the root associated with each switch port.
¦| The port identifier (MAC address) associated with each switch port.

Each configuration BPDU contains the following minimal information:

¦| The unique identifier of the switch that the transmitting switch believes to be the root
switch.
¦| The cost of the path to the root from the transmitting port.
¦| The identifier of the transmitting port.

The switch sends configuration BPDUs to communicate and compute the spanning-tree
topology. A MAC frame conveying a BPDU sends the switch group address to the destination
address field. All switches connected to the LAN on which the frame is transmitted receive the
BPDU. BPDUs are not directly forwarded by the switch, but the information contained in the
frame can be used to calculate a BPDU by the receiving switch, and, if the topology changes,
instigate a BPDU transmission.

A BPDU exchange results in the following:

¦| rne switch is elected as the root switch.

¦| The shortest distance to the root switch is calculated for each switch.
 ¦| A designated switch is selected. This is the switch closest to the root switch through
which frames will be forwarded to the root.
¦| A port for each switch is selected. This is the port providing the best path from the switch
to the root switch.
¦| Ports included in the Spanning-Tree Protocol are selected.

 

The bridge ID (BID) is used to determine the root bridge on a network. This topic describes what
makes up a BID and how to configure the BID on a switch to influence the election process to
ensure that specific switches are assigned the role of root bridge on the network.The BID field of
a BPDU frame contains three separate fields: bridge priority, extended system ID, and MAC
address. Each field is used during the root bridge election.

 


The bridge priority is a customizable value that you can use to influence which switch becomes
the root bridge. The switch with the lowest priority, which means lowest BID, becomes the root
bridge (the lower the priority value, the higher the priority). For example, to ensure that a
specific switch is always the root bridge, you set the priority to a lower value than the rest of the
switches on the network. The default value for the priority of all Cisco switches is 32768. The
priority range is between 1 and 65536; therefore, 1 is the highest priority.

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