| Terms you'll need to understand: PortFast, UplinkFast, and BackboneFast BPDU Guard and filtering Rapid STP (RSTP) Alternate and backup port states for RSTP Edge port and link type Multiple Spanning Tree (MST) and regions Internal Spanning Tree (IST) EtherChannel Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP) and Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) BPDU skewing, Root Guard, Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD), and Loop Guard
Techniques you'll need to master: Enabling PortFast, UplinkFast, and BackboneFast Using RSTP to scale Layer 2 networks Understand the differences between CST, PVST, and MST Configuring MST Understand the EtherChannel operation and configuration Understand when to use Root Guard, UDLD, and Loop Guard to prevent STP misconfigurations Know how to troubleshoot STP problems as well as the use of debug commands
The preceding chapter covered the basic operation and configuration of STP. This chapter discusses some of the enhancements to STP to help it scale better in large Layer 2 networks. Those features include PortFast, UplinkFast, BackboneFast, Rapid STP, STP Guard features, and EtherChannels. The remainder of this chapter discusses these features in more depth. |