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Catalyst 2950 Desktop Switch Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter 11 Configuring STP Configuring Spanning-Tree Features
Caution Switches that are not running spanning tree still forward BPDUs that they receive so that the other
switches on the VLAN that have a running spanning-tree instance can break loops. Therefore, spanning
tree must be running on en ough switc hes to break all the loops in the network; for example, at least on e
switch on eac h loop in the VLA N must be runni ng spanni ng tree. It is not absol utely ne cessary to run
spanning tree on all switches in the VLAN; howe ver , if you are running spanning tree only on a minimal
set of switche s, an incaut ious cha nge to the networ k that introd uces a nother loop into the VLAN can
result in a broa dcast storm .
Note If yo u have alre ady u sed a ll available sp anni ng- tree inst an ces on you r swi tc h, a dding anot h er V LAN
anywhere in the VTP dom ain cre ate s a VL AN tha t i s not run ning spa nnin g tr ee o n th at swit ch. If you
ha ve the def ault allo wed list on the trunk ports o f that switch, the ne w VLAN is carried on all trunk ports.
Depending on the topology of the network, this could create a loop in the new VLAN that will not be
broken, particular ly if there are se veral adjacent switches that ha ve all run out of spanning-tree instances.
You can prevent this possibility by setting up allowed lists on the trunk ports of switches that have used
up their allo cation of spanning-tree inst ances. Setting up allo wed lists is not nece ssary in many cases and
can make it mo re labor-inte nsive to add an other VLA N to the ne twork.
Spanning-tree commands determine the configuration of VLAN spanning-tree instances. You create a
spann ing - t re e ins tance wh en y ou assig n an in te rface to a VLAN. T he s p an ni ng - t re e ins tance is r em ov ed
when the last interface is moved to another VLAN. You can configure switch and port parameters before
a spanning-tree instance is created; these parameters are applied when the spanning-tree instance is
created.