SMC Networks SMC8624/48T manual 128, Ad B

CONFIGURING THE SWITCH

•Port Role – Roles are assigned according to whether the port is part of the active topology connecting the bridge to the root bridge (i.e., root port), connecting a LAN through the bridge to the root bridge (i.e., designated port), or is the MSTI regional root (i.e., master port); or is an alternate or backup port that may provide connectivity if other bridges, bridge ports, or LANs fail or are removed. The role is set to disabled (i.e., disabled port) if a port has no role within the spanning tree.

Alternate port receives more useful BPDUs from another bridge and is therefore not selected as the designated

port.R

R: Root Port

A:Alternate Port

D:Designated Port

B:Backup Port

R

AD B

x

Backup port receives more useful BPDUs from the same bridge and is therefore not selected as the designated

port.

RR

ADB

x

Trunk Member – Indicates if a port is a member of a trunk. (STA Port Information only)

These additional parameters are only displayed for the CLI:

•Admin status – Shows if this interface is enabled.

•External path cost – The path cost for the IST. This parameter is used by the STA to determine the best path between devices. Therefore, lower values should be assigned to ports attached to faster media, and higher values assigned to ports with slower media. (Path cost takes precedence over port priority.)

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