Spanning Tree Protocol

Module 7:
Spanning-Tree Protocol
CCNA 3 Version 3.1
 Fault Tolerance
How is reliability in a network achieved
Spanning Tree Protocol

and downtime reduced?

by using reliable equipment
by designing networks that are tolerant to
failures and faults

Networks should be designed to

reconverge rapidly so that a fault is
bypassed
Fault tolerance is achieved by
redundancy
Spanning Tree Protocol What causes switching loops?

Switches flood traffic out all ports when

the traffic is sent to a destination that is
not yet known

Broadcast and multicast traffic is

forwarded out every port, except the
port on which the traffic arrived

This traffic can be caught in a loop

Spanning Tree Protocol Avoiding Switching Loops
The Spanning-Tree Protocol is used in
switched networks to create a loop free
logical topology from a physical
topology that has loops
 Redundant Switched Topologies
Redundant topologies eliminate single points
Spanning Tree Protocol

of failure
If a path or device fails, the redundant path or
device can take over the tasks of the failed
path or device.

A Simple
Redundant
Switched
Topology
Spanning Tree Protocol The Solution
To allow redundant links in a switched
network topology and avoid:

Broadcast storms

Multiple frame transmissions

MAC database instability (routing loops)

Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP) to the rescue

 Intro to Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP)

IEEE 802.1D Spanning-Tree Protocol

Spanning Tree Protocol

Used by Ethernet bridges and switches to

construct a loop free shortest path network using
the spanning-tree algorithm
Shortest path is based on cumulative link
costs
Link costs are based on the speed of the link
Spanning Tree Protocol Intro to STP continued
The Spanning-Tree Protocol establishes a
root node, called the root bridge
STP constructs a topology that has one path for
reaching every network node
The resulting tree originates from the root bridge
Redundant links that are not part of the shortest
path tree are blocked.
Data frames received on blocked links are
dropped.
Because certain paths are blocked, a loop
free topology is possible
 Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs)

The Spanning-Tree Protocol requires

Spanning Tree Protocol

network devices to exchange messages

to help form a loop-free logical topology
These messages are called Bridge
Protocol Data Units (BPDUs)
Links that will cause a loop are put into a
blocking state
BPDUs continue to be received on blocked
ports (ensures that if an active path or
device fails, a new spanning tree can be
calculated)
 More on BPDUs
BPDUs help switches do the following:
Spanning Tree Protocol

Select a single switch that will act as the root of the

spanning tree
Calculate the shortest path from itself to the root
switch
Designate one of the switches as the closest one to
the root, for each LAN segment. This bridge is called
the designated switch
The designated switch handles all communication from that
LAN towards the root bridge.
Choose one of its ports as a root port (if it is a non-
root switch)
This is the interface that gives the best path to root switch.
Select ports that are part of the spanning tree, called
designated ports
Non-designated ports are blocked
 Root Ports, Designated Ports, &
Spanning Tree Protocol Non-Designated Ports
Spanning Tree Protocol Information Contained in BPDUs
 Spanning-Tree Operation
When the network has stabilized, it has
Spanning Tree Protocol

converged and there is one spanning tree per

network
For every switched network the following
elements exist:
One root bridge per network
One root port per non root bridge
One designated port per segment
Unused, non-designated ports
Root ports and designated ports forward data
traffic.
Non-designated ports discard data traffic
These ports are called blocking or discarding ports
Spanning Tree Protocol Selecting the Root Bridge
The first decision that all switches in the
network make, is to identify the root bridge
using the spanning-tree algorithm
the bridge with the smallest Bridge ID(BID) value
will be the root bridge.

BPDUs are sent out with the Bridge ID (BID).

The BID consists of a bridge priority (that defaults
to 32768) and the switch base MAC address
By default BPDUs are sent every two seconds
All switches see the BIDs sent
 Selecting the Root Bridge Contd
When a switch first starts up, it assumes it is
Spanning Tree Protocol

the root switch and sends inferior BPDUs.

These BPDUs contain the bridge priority and switch
MAC address in both the root and sender BID
As a switch receives a BPDU with a lower root
BID it replaces that in the subsequent BPDUs it
sends out
A network administrator can influence the
decision by setting the switch priority to a
smaller value than the default (which will make
the BID smaller)
Should only be implemented when the traffic flow on
the network is well understood
Spanning Tree Protocol Four Stages of Spanning-Tree Port States

A port can also be in a disabled state which occurs when an

administrator shuts down the port or the port fails.
 Four Stages of Spanning-Tree Port States

Blocking State
Spanning Tree Protocol

Ports can only receive BPDUs

Data frames are discarded and no addresses can be learned
It may take up to 20 seconds to change from this state
Listening State
Switches determine if there are any other paths to the root
bridge
The path that is not the least cost path to the root bridge
goes back to the blocked state
BPDUs are still processed.
User data is not being forwarded and MAC addresses are
not being learned
The listening period is called the forward delay and lasts for
15 seconds
 Four Stages of Spanning-Tree Port States

Learning State
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user data is not forwarded, but MAC addresses

are learned from any traffic that is seen
The learning state lasts for 15 seconds and is also
called the forward delay
BPDUs are still processed
Forwarding state
user data is forwarded and MAC addresses
continue to be learned
BPDUs are still processed
Disabled State (Fifth State)
can occur when an administrator shuts down the
port or the port fails
 Spanning-Tree Recalculation
A switched internetwork has converged when
Spanning Tree Protocol

all the switch and bridge ports are in either the

forwarding or blocked state
Forwarding ports send and receive data traffic and
BPDUs
Blocked ports will only receive BPDUs
When the network topology changes, switches
and bridges recompute the Spanning Tree
causing a disruption of user traffic.
Convergence on a new spanning-tree topology
using the IEEE 802.1D standard can take up to
50 seconds