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Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3130 for Dell Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter18 Configuring MSTP
Configuring MSTP Features
•Notification—Unlike IEEE 802.1D, which uses TCN BPDUs, th e RST P d oe s n ot us e t hem .
However, for IEEE 802.1D interoperability, an RSTP switch processes and generates TCN BPDUs.
•Acknowledgement—When an RSTP switch receives a TCN message on a designated port from an
IEEE 802.1D switch, it replies with an IEEE 802.1D configuration BPDU with the TCA bit set.
However, if the TC-while timer (the same as the topology-change timer in IEEE 802.1D) is active
on a root port connected to an IEEE 802.1D switch and a co nfiguration BPDU with the TCA bit set
is received, the TC-while timer is reset.
This behavior is only required to support IEEE 802.1D switches. The RSTP BPDUs never have the
TCA bit set.
•Propagation—When an RSTP switch receives a TC message from another switch through a
designated or root port, it propagates the change to all o f it s non ed ge, d esig na ted por ts a nd to th e
root port (excluding the port on which it is received). The switch starts the TC-while timer for all
such ports and flushes the information learned on them.
•Protocol migration—For backward compatibility with IEEE 802.1D switches, RSTP selectively
sends IEEE 802.1D configuration BPDUs and TCN BPDUs on a per-port basis.
When a port is initialized, the migrate-delay timer is started (specifies the minimum time during
which RSTP BPDUs are sent), and RSTP BPDUs are sent. While this timer is active, the switch
processes all BPDUs received on that port and ignores the protocol type .
If the switch receives an IEEE 802.1D BPDU after the port migration-delay timer has expired, it
assumes that it is connected to an IEEE 802.1D switch and starts us ing only IEEE 802.1D BPDUs.
However, if the RSTP switch is using IEEE 802.1D BPDUs on a port and receives an RSTP BPDU
after the timer has expired, it restarts the timer and starts using RSTP BPDUs on that port.
Configuring MSTP Features
These sections contain this configuration information:
•Default MSTP Configuration, page 18-15
•MSTP Configuration Guidelines, page18-15
•Specifying the MST Region Configuration and Enabling MSTP, page 18-16 (required)
•Configuring the Root Switch, page 18-17 (optional)
•Configuring a Secondary Root Switch, page 18-19 (optional)
•Configuring Port Priority, page 18-20 (optional)
•Configuring Path Cost, page 18-21 (optional)
•Configuring the Switch Priority, page18-22 (optional)
•Configuring the Hello Time, page18-22 (optional)
•Configuring the Forwarding-Delay Time, page 18-23 (optional)
•Configuring the Maximum-Aging Time, page 18-24 (optional)
•Configuring the Maximum-Hop Count, page 18-24 (optional)
•Specifying the Link Type to Ensure Rapid Transitions, page 18-24 (optional)
•Designating the Neighbor Type, page 18-25 (optional)
•Restarting the Protocol Migration Process, page 18-26 (optiona l)