Cisco Systems 3750E Spanning-Tree Modes and Protocols, Supported Spanning-Tree Instances, 18-10

Chapter 18 Configuring STP

Understanding Spanning-Tree Features

Because each VLAN is a separate spanning-tree instance, the switch accelerates aging on a per-VLAN basis. A spanning-tree reconfiguration on one VLAN can cause the dynamic addresses learned on that VLAN to be subject to accelerated aging. Dynamic addresses on other VLANs can be unaffected and remain subject to the aging interval entered for the switch.

Spanning-Tree Modes and Protocols

The switch supports these spanning-tree modes and protocols:

•PVST+—This spanning-tree mode is based on the IEEE 802.1D standard and Cisco proprietary extensions. It is the default spanning-tree mode used on all Ethernet port-based VLANs. The PVST+ runs on each VLAN on the switch up to the maximum supported, ensuring that each has a loop-free path through the network.

The PVST+ provides Layer 2 load-balancing for the VLAN on which it runs. You can create different logical topologies by using the VLANs on your network to ensure that all of your links are used but that no one link is oversubscribed. Each instance of PVST+ on a VLAN has a single root switch. This root switch propagates the spanning-tree information associated with that VLAN to all other switches in the network. Because each switch has the same information about the network, this process ensures that the network topology is maintained.

•Rapid PVST+—This spanning-tree mode is the same as PVST+ except that is uses a rapid convergence based on the IEEE 802.1w standard. To provide rapid convergence, the rapid PVST+ immediately deletes dynamically learned MAC address entries on a per-port basis upon receiving a topology change. By contrast, PVST+ uses a short aging time for dynamically learned MAC address entries.

The rapid PVST+ uses the same configuration as PVST+ (except where noted), and the switch needs only minimal extra configuration. The benefit of rapid PVST+ is that you can migrate a large PVST+ install base to rapid PVST+ without having to learn the complexities of the MSTP configuration and without having to reprovision your network. In rapid-PVST+ mode, each VLAN runs its own spanning-tree instance up to the maximum supported.

•MSTP—This spanning-tree mode is based on the IEEE 802.1s standard. You can map multiple VLANs to the same spanning-tree instance, which reduces the number of spanning-tree instances required to support a large number of VLANs. The MSTP runs on top of the RSTP (based on IEEE 802.1w), which provides for rapid convergence of the spanning tree by eliminating the forward delay and by quickly transitioning root ports and designated ports to the forwarding state. In a switch stack, the cross-stack rapid transition (CSRT) feature performs the same function as RSTP. You cannot run MSTP without RSTP or CSRT.

The most common initial deployment of MSTP is in the backbone and distribution layers of a

Layer 2 switched network. For more information, see Chapter 19, “Configuring MSTP.”

For information about the number of supported spanning-tree instances, see the next section.

Supported Spanning-Tree Instances

In PVST+ or rapid-PVST+ mode, the switch or switch stack supports up to 128 spanning-tree instances.

In MSTP mode, the switch or switch stack supports up to 65 MST instances. The number of VLANs that can be mapped to a particular MST instance is unlimited.

For information about how spanning tree interoperates with the VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP), see the “Spanning-Tree Configuration Guidelines” section on page 18-13.

	Catalyst 3750-E and 3560-E Switch Software Configuration Guide
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