Cisco proprietary protocols, Method 2 Mstp

Deploying the Dell PowerConnect 8100 with the Cisco Catalyst

Consult the User Guides for each device for more information on bridge priority settings.

Method 2: MSTP

In addition, users can minimize downtimes by using a standard protocol on the Cisco Catalyst. Spanning tree modes available on the Cisco Catalyst WS-C6504-E with IOS 12.2(33)SXI4a are MST, PVST, and Rapid-PVST. Of the three, only MST is an IEEE standard protocol. MST is also the only protocol available on both the Cisco Catalyst and the Dell PowerConnect 8100.

This option is less desirable because it requires migrating exiting Cisco devices over to MST, which were previously running a Cisco proprietary spanning tree protocol (PVST+ or RPVST+). Such a migration would typically require some reconfiguration and possible topology redesign. Consult the User Guides for your devices on how to set up MST.

Cisco proprietary protocols

Network administrators often run into problems receiving multiple Cisco proprietary protocols on standards based switches, which causes unexpected results on the network. Therefore, Dell PowerConnect has developed an easy way to block Cisco protocols as necessary. By creating built-in ACLs (Access Control Lists) that block individual Cisco protocols on each port, the user can now filter out unwanted packets from their network. For example, use the following command to enable automatic filtering of CDP packets on the interface:

console(config)#interface gi1/0/3

console(config-if)#service-acl input blockcdp

console(config-if)#exit

The no service-acl input command removes this filtering for the interface.

In the same way, administrators can block the other proprietary protocol packets individually (cdp, vtp, dtp, pagp, udld, sstp) as shown below replacing the ( ) with the keyword:

console(config)#interface gi1/0/3 console(config-if)#service-acl input ( )

-options put in place of parenthesis

blockcdp blocks all cdp packets on this interface

blockvtp blocks all vtp packets on this interface

blockdtp blocks all dtp packets on this interface blockpagp blocks all pagp packets on this interface blockudld blocks all udld packets on this interface blocksstp blocks all sstp packets on this interface

blockall blocks all cisco proprietary protocols on this interface

Use one or more of these filters on each port by running a mix of options on a single line, (for example, service-acl input blockpagp blockudld), or simply use the blockall option to block all Cisco protocols on the port.

Note: These interface ACLs take precedence over any global configuration that may be active on the switch (for example, if a form of CDP is globally running on the switch, the service-acl blockcdp