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Catalyst 2960 Switch SoftwareConfiguration Guide
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Chapter1 Overview
Features
•In-band management access through SNMP Versions 1, 2c, and 3 get and set requests
•Out-of-band management access through the switch console port to a directly attached terminal or
to a remote terminal through a serial connection or a modem
Note For additional descriptions of the management interfaces, see the “Network Configuration Examples”
section on page 1-11.
Availability Features
•UniDirectional Link Detection (UDLD) and aggressive UDLD for detecting and disabling
unidirectional links on fiber-optic interfaces caused by incorrect fiber-optic wiring or port faults
•IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) for redundant backbone connections and loop-free
networks. STP has these features:
–
Up to 128 spanning-tree instances supported
–
Per-VLAN spanning-tree plus (PVST+) for balancing load across VLANs
–
Rapid PVST+ for balancing load across VLANs and providing rapid convergence of
spanning-tree instances
–
UplinkFast and BackboneFast for fast convergence after a spanning-tree topology change and
for achieving load balancing between redundant uplinks, including Gigabit uplinks
•IEEE 802.1s Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP) for grouping VLANs into a spanning-tree
instance and for providing multiple forwarding paths for data traffic and load balancing and rapid
per-VLAN Spanning-Tree plus (rapid-PVST+) based on the IEEE 802.1w Rapid Spanning Tree
Protocol (RSTP) for rapid convergence of the spanning tree by immediately trans itioning root and
designated ports to the forwarding state
•Optional spanning-tree features available in PVST+, rapid-PVST+, and MST P mode:
–
Port Fast for eliminating the forwarding delay by enabling a port to immediately transition from
the blocking state to the forwarding state
–
BPDU guard for shutting down Port Fast-enabled ports that receive bridge protocol data units
(BPDUs)
–
BPDU filtering for preventing a Port Fast-enabled port from sending or receiving BPDUs
–
Root guard for preventing switches outside the network core from becoming the spanning-tree
root
–
Loop guard for preventing alternate or root ports from becoming designated ports beca use of a
failure that leads to a unidirectional link
•Flex Link Layer 2 interfaces to back up one another as an alternative to STP for basic link
redundancy
•RPS support through the Cisco RPS 300 and Cisco RPS 675 for enhancing p ower reliability