D-Link DES-3624 manual STA Operation Levels, User-Changeable STA Parameters, On the Bridge Level

Stackable NWay Ethernet Switch User’s Guide

STA Operation Levels

STA operates on two levels: the bridge level and the port level. On the bridge level, STA calculates the Bridge Identifier for each Switch, then sets the Root Bridge and the Designated Bridges. On the port level, STA sets the Root Port and Designated Ports. Details are as follows:

On the Bridge Level

♦Root Bridge The switch with the lowest Bridge Identifier is the Root Bridge. Naturally, you will want the Root Bridge to be the best switch among the switches in the loop to ensure the highest network performance and reliability.

♦Bridge Identifier This is the combination of the Bridge Priority (a parameter that you can set) and the MAC address of the switch. Example: 4 00 80 C8 00 01 00, where 4 is the Bridge Priority. A lower Bridge Identifier results in a higher priority for the switch, and thus increases it probably of being selected as the Root Bridge.

♦Designated Bridge From each LAN segment, the attached Bridge that has the lowest Root Path Cost to the Root Bridge is the Designated Bridge. It forwards data packets for that LAN segment. In cases where all Switches have the same Root Path Cost, the switch with the lowest Bridge Identifier becomes the Designated Bridge.

♦Root Path Cost The Root Path Cost of a switch is the sum of the Path Cost of the Root Port and the Root Path Costs of all the switches that the packet goes through. The Root Path Cost of the Root Bridge is zero.

♦Bridge Priority This is a parameter that users can set. The smaller the number you set, the higher the Bridge Priority is. The higher the Bridge Priority, the better the chance the Switch will be selected as the Root Bridge.

On the Port Level

♦Root Port Each switch has a Root Port. This is the port that has the lowest Path Cost to the Root Bridge. In case there are several such ports, then the one with the lowest Port Identifier is the Root Port.

♦Designated Port This is the port on each Designated Bridge that is attached to the LAN segment for which the switch is the Designated Bridge.

♦Port Priority The smaller this number, the higher the Port Priority is. With higher Port Priority, the higher the probability that the port will be selected as the Root Port.

♦Path Cost This is a changeable parameter and may be modified according to STA specifications. Each 10Mbps and 100Mbps segment has an assigned Path Cost of 19.

User-Changeable STA Parameters

The factory default setting should cover the majority of installations. However, it is advisable to keep the default settings as set at the factory, unless it is absolutely necessary. The user changeable parameters in the Switch are as follows:

♦Bridge Priority A Bridge Priority can be from 0 to 65535. 0 is equal to the highest Bridge Priority.

♦Bridge Hello Time The Hello Time can be from 1 to 10 seconds. This is the interval between two transmissions of BPDU packets sent by the Root Bridge to tell all other Switches that it is indeed the

32 Switch Management Concepts