Spanning Tree Protocol Info Sheet

The ABCs of Spanning Tree Protocol

automation user may want loops to guard against a

INTRODUCTION
primary cable failure while an office automation user may
In an industrial automation application that relies heavily want to guard against an inadvertent loop. The 802.1D
on the health of the Ethernet network that attaches all the standard addresses both situations.
controllers and computers together, a concern exists about
what would happen if the network fails. If the result is Bridge Operation
loss of production or loss of a processed batch or the If you understand how an Ethernet switch works, you
endangerment of people or equipment, redundancy know how a bridge operates. However, all the
schemes are examined. Since cable failure is the most requirements of a bridge (e.g., STP) are not always
likely mishap, cable redundancy is suggested by present in a switch. A bridge needs to relay and filter
configuring the network in either a ring or by carrying frames and it must make independent decisions about
parallel branches. If one of the segments is lost, then when to do this.
communication will continue down a parallel path or
around the unbroken portion of the ring. The problem Look at Figure 1. In a two-port Ethernet bridge, each port
with these approaches is that Ethernet supports neither of has an Ethernet-type MAC port connected to a separate
these topologies without special equipment. However, LAN and a filtering database (memory) shared by both
this issue is addressed in an IEEE standard numbered ports. Within each LAN is a collection of end stations,
802.1D that covers bridges, and in this standard the repeating hubs and simple plug-and-play switches. Each
concept of the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is end station has a unique MAC address. For simplicity, we
introduced. will assume ordinary integers although true Ethernet
MAC addresses are 48 bits long. In our example, three
IEEE 802.1D
numbered end stations are present in each LAN. Assume
The redundancy issue is addressed by ANSI/IEEE Std Bridge 1 has recently been powered and its memory
802.1D, 1998 edition: Information technology — cleared (Bridge 2 will be added later). Station 1 sends a
Telecommunications and information exchange between message to station 11 followed by Station 2 sending a
systems — Local and metropolitan area networks — message to Station 11. These messages will traverse the
common specifications — Part 3: Media Access Control bridge from one LAN to the other. This process is called
(MAC) Bridges. The equipment covered by the standard relaying or forwarding. The database in the bridge will
is called a bridge. A bridge is used to connect two or more note the source addresses of Stations 1 and 2 as arriving
local area networks (LANs) at the MAC level, which is on Port A. This process is called learning. When Station
layer two in the ISO Reference Model. Generally the 11 responds to either Station 1 or 2, the database will note
MAC type can be different on each LAN, but usually that Station 11 is on Port B. If Station 1 sends a message
Ethernet LANs are on either side of a bridge. to Station 2, the bridge will do nothing since it realizes
Interconnecting LANs by using bridges creates a Bridged that because Stations 1 and 2 are on the same LAN their
LAN whereby end stations located on different LANs can message does not need to be shared with other LANs.
communicate as if the bridges were not present. This process is called filtering. If Station 1 ceases to
Cable redundancy introduces loops in the topology and, initiate messages for a period of time, the bridge will
as we will see, these loops must be disabled. An industrial erase Station 1 from its database — requiring the location
of Station 1 to be relearned. This is called aging.

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 Spanning Tree Protocol Info Sheet

Tree Topology
To avoid loops we need a tree topology consisting of a
root, a succession of branches and then leaves. The leaves
represent end stations, and there is one and only one path
from a leaf to another leaf. Therefore, the tree is free of
loops that can cause havoc in a network. The other
requirement is that all leaves are connected. There are no
isolated segments. Another term for this topology is
distributed star. Within our tree structure will be a series
of bridges used to connect the branches and leaves. There
are two types. The root bridge is the main one of interest
because it has a special assignment and there is only one
within a network. The other bridges (that are to be used)
are all designated bridges and there could be many within
the network. To have a tree topology, you need bridges
with more than two ports.

Figure 1 — The addition of Bridge 2 creates a loop. Port Designations

Although bridges do not need MAC addresses to operate,
The above examples are all directed or unicast messages a MAC address is needed to identify bridges in the
— meaning that one station is sending a message to Spanning Tree Protocol. Besides a MAC address for each
another station. With multicast (one station to many bridge, each port on each bridge must be identified. For
stations) or broadcast messages (one station to all other bridges, a unique 64-bit bridge identifier is assigned by
stations), the bridge will forward messages to all stations appending a 16-bit priority field in front of a unique 48-
since it may not know the actual location of all stations. bit MAC address resulting in a Bridge ID. The MAC
This process is called flooding. address comes from the bridge vendor, but the priority
Looking at the same Figure 1, Bridge 2 is now added to field can be set by the user. The default priority value of
parallel Bridge 1. This gives us a redundant path, but it 0x8000 is in the middle of the priority range. If the user
also creates a loop with the following adverse results. fails to assign priority values, the bridges will still have
When Station 1 initiates a message to Station 11, this unique assignments. This is important since the bridge
message is forwarded by Bridge 1 and appears on LAN with the lowest numerical bridge identifier will become
B. Bridge 2 interprets this message as originating on LAN the root bridge. All other bridges have the possibility of
B so it forwards the message to LAN A while incorrectly becoming designated bridges.
noting that Station 1 is located on LAN B. When Station Similarly, a 16-bit "port identifier" exists consisting of an
1 initiates a second message, Bridge 2 interprets this 8-bit port address preceded by an 8-bit priority field.
action as if Station 1 has now moved to LAN A from Again, the user sets the priority field while the bridge
LAN B and resets its filtering database accordingly. Now vendor sets the port addresses usually beginning with one
assume that Station 1 sends out a broadcast message. for port one and so on. The default priority field is 0x80.
Bridge 1 will forward the message to LAN B. Bridge 2 Now we have all the bridges and ports identified
will observe the message on LAN B and forward it to including the root bridge.
LAN A. Bridge 1 will observe this message on LAN A as
To avoid loops, there is one and only one bridge that is
a new message and forward it to LAN B again —
responsible for forwarding messages from the direction of
initiating an endless cycle, totally consuming the
the root towards branches, which we will call links. If
bandwidth of both bridges and rendering both LANs
there is only one path from the root to a link where end
useless. To maintain the integrity of our network, we
stations (leaves) attach, there will be no loops. We need a
must guard against the formation of loops.

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 Spanning Tree Protocol Info Sheet

forwarding policy, which is called the Spanning Tree

Protocol. To implement this policy, we need to assign
each port to become either a designated port or a root
port. A designated port is a port that forwards traffic away
from the root and towards the leaves. A root port carries
traffic back to the root bridge with the further requirement
that no more than one root port exists on any one
designated bridge. Looking at Figure 2, notice that the
root bridge (R) has all designated ports (because it is the
Table 1 — Link Cost Recommendations
root) while the designated bridges have root ports when
connected to the root bridge or when the direction of flow
is towards the root.
BPDUs
Bridges must communicate with one another to execute
the STP, and they accomplish this by sending
configuration messages in the form of Bridge Protocol
Data Units (BPDUs). The BPDU is sent as a multicast
message (01-80-C2-00-00-00) within a reserved range of
MAC addresses which are consumed by each bridge and
not forwarded. Each bridge must periodically advertise its
understanding of the topology and the path cost to the
root for each of its ports. The BPDU format is shown in
Figure 3. The more important fields will be discussed in
the following example.

Figure 2 — The addition of link U creates a redundant path.

Bridge R has the lowest bridge ID and is, therefore, the root.

Path Cost
The next item to specify is the cost of each link between
branch devices (end stations are not counted). Since we
do not want to forward traffic onto low-speed links if we
can avoid it, we assign a link cost based upon port speed.
The recommended cost figures are shown in Table 1. A
100 Mbps port would cost 19 while a 10 Mbps port
would cost 100. Two 100 Mbps cascaded links (two links
requiring two bridges to reach the root) would cost 38.
This would represent the path cost. Therefore, all
designated ports on Bridge C in Figure 2 would advertise
a path cost of 38 — assuming traffic is at 100 Mbps. STP
uses path cost to the root for arbitrating the ideal route.
All other routes are blocked. If path costs for each port on
each bridge are manually assigned by the operator,
configuration could be tedious. Once these costs are Figure 3 — There are two types of Bridge Protocol Data Unit types.
entered, we can let the STP determine the best topology Configuration messages are normally sent; however, a designated
that will not introduce loops. bridge can initiate a Topology Change message.

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Refer to Figure 2 where we have four interconnected of BPDUs — ending the process since no more tier
bridges connected to end stations. We will assume a bridges remain. End stations do not participate in the
stable network with a duly elected root bridge (R) and process and ignore the messages. Because the
several designated bridges (A, B, C). All ports on the root propagation of messages from the root will take time, the
bridge are designated ports since they emanate to end STP standard establishes an arbitrary limit to the number
stations from the root. All other ports are designated ports of cascaded bridges at seven. This limit does not apply to
or candidates for designated ports except three ports that conventional switches that, in any event, should not be
point towards the root. They are Port 1 on Bridge A, Port present in an STP network.
1 on Bridge B and Port 1 on Bridge C. These are root
ports. Assume that all ports on all bridges are rated for Port States
100 Mbps except Bridge B which is only rated for 10 The operational states of ports participating in the STP are
Mbps. Examining Table 1 we find that the corresponding a bit different from a conventional switch. Additional
link cost for 100 Mbps is 19 and for 10 Mbps it is 100. states are needed to prevent a loop, and to limit instability
This information will be needed when constructing the during the voting or topology-change process. There are
BPDUs. There are four links of interest (S, T, U, and V). five states.
The root bridge begins the process of sending a periodic • Disabled
configuration message based upon the Hello Time which
This port is completely non-functional in that it
is typically two seconds. In this message, the Root
cannot receive or transmit any type of frame.
Identifier and Bridge Identifier would be the same since
this bridge thinks it is the root by having the lowest-value
• Blocking
bridge identifier. The Root Path Cost will be zero because
this is the root bridge. This port is neither a designated nor root port but
is recognized as an alternate port to the root. It
Since all ports on the root bridge are designated ports, a does not learn addresses, forward frames or
configuration BPDU will go out each port along with the transmit BPDUs. It can hear BPDUs being sent
corresponding port identifier. This process repeats every since it may be called to action one day.
Hello Time.
• Listening
First-tier bridges (those directly connected to the root This port is being prepared for activity by exiting
bridge — in our case, Bridges A and B) will receive the the blocking state. It still does not learn or
BPDUs on Links S and T and will analyze the data. Each forward addresses, but it sends and receives
bridge will verify that the Root Identifier is indeed lower BPDUs. It is participating in the voting, but it
than its own bridge identifier. If that is true, each bridge might not win the election.
will assemble its own set of BPDUs for transmission out
its designated ports. The Root Identifier Field will not • Learning
change. Each designated port will increase the total cost
This port will become active in forwarding
of getting back to the root by that port's individual Root
frames but must wait until the Forward Delay
Path Cost. Since both of these are tier-1 bridges, the Root
timer expires (typically 15 seconds). This allows
Path Cost would be the link cost for Bridge A (19) and for
the port to add entries in its filtering database so it
Bridge B (100). The bridge and port identifiers would
will not flood ports once it enters the forwarding
represent data from each bridge. The Hello Time will
state.
remain that specified by the root. BPDUs are then sent
out each bridge's designated ports. Second-tier bridges • Forwarding
receive the BPDUs (in our case, Bridge C) and the path
cost is upped again. In our example, the Root Path Cost This port is functioning as any other switch port
from Bridge C would be 38. Bridge C will send out its set by filtering and forwarding frames.

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We will go back to our example in Figure 2. Since we the topology change by setting the Topology Change bit
have a tree topology without loops, all active ports (those in the flags field and sending out a new configuration
with a link partner) are in the forwarding state. Now message. While this flag is set, all designated bridges
consider the presence of Link U. Unused Port 4 on reduce their aging time to that of the Forward Delay timer
Bridges A and B will be active but only in the listening in anticipation of the topology change. Since the topology
state. While in this state, they send each other BPDUs. change could possibly make the data in the filtering
Bridge A will send out a BPDU to Bridge B indicating a database invalid, it must be quickly cleared and the new
root path cost of 19 while Bridge B reciprocates with a location of end stations relearned. Under normal
root path cost of 100. Both bridges recognize there is an conditions, the standard recommends a default aging time
alternate path to the root, which is unacceptable, and that of 5 minutes! Changing the time to 15 seconds would be
(for messages not originating at the end stations attached a great help in relearning address locations. Only after the
to Bridge B) the best path to the root is through Bridge A root clears the topology change bit will the designated
and not Bridge B. Therefore Port 4 on Bridge B assumes bridges resume their normal aging time and begin the
the blocking state, and Port 4 on Bridge A the learning learning and forwarding operations for the new topology.
state — and eventually the forwarding state, even though
this would be useless since all the messages forwarded Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP)
from Bridge A to Bridge B would be discarded on arrival. The Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol was introduced by the
The final result is no topology change. The tree before the IEEE as 802.1w. This technology was then absorbed by
redundant connection is the same as after the connection IEEE 802.1D-2004. RSTP is based upon the older STP
was made. However, Link U is now a potential redundant standard and is backward compatible. RSTP and STP are
path which may be utilized after a link or switch failure. similar in many areas. RSTP was created to provide faster
recovery (convergence time) from topology changes.
Topology Change
In the above example, adding Link U did not result in a RSTP provides faster recovery by monitoring the link
change in the tree topology. However, a topology change status of each port and then generating a topology change
can occur due to a lost link, a lost bridge, the addition of a after a link status change. Most switches can detect the
link or bridge, or by management changing the priorities link status changes very quickly (usually under 1 second).
of bridges. What happens if the root bridge fails? STP STP switches only detect topology changes when BPDU
guards against all these occurrences by monitoring messages fail to reach their destination.
configuration BPDUs, observing that a BPDU failed to
arrive, or by generating a Topology Change BPDU. RSTP also improves recovery time by adding a new port
designation. The designation alternate port is used for a
There are two types of BPDUs as identified in the BPDU port that acts as a backup to the root port. If the root port
Type field. The configuration type is the normal BPDU as is lost, the alternate port can be quickly used as the new
shown in Figure 3. The topology-change BPDU is similar root port. An RSTP switch automatically determines its
to the configuration BPDU except that no data is alternate ports and its root port.
transmitted below the Type field. This BPDU is
generated by one of the designated bridges that changed RSTP changes the possible port states. In RSTP there are
its topology. An intervening designated bridge will only three states: discarding, learning and forwarding.
acknowledge the originator's topology-change message RSTP also slightly modifies the BPDU format—defining
by sending a configuration message with the Topology additional bits in the flag field.
Acknowledge bit set in the Flags field. A new topology-
change BPDU will then be sent towards the root. Any RSTP provides backward compatibility to STP. When a
intervening designated bridge would repeat the process switch receives an STP BPDU, it will apply the STP
until the root is notified. The root bridge notices the standard on that port. However, this could increase the
message and informs all its attached designated bridges of recovery time of the network.

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Summary
This article provides an introduction to STP and RSTP.
Since these protocols are complex, not all issues have
been addressed. Since protocol timers and aging times
can vary, it is impossible to predict the time it would
take for a network to stabilize after a topology change.
An advantage of STP and RSTP is that they are not
specific to Ethernet and can operate over wide area
networks (WANs). For supervisory control and data
acquisition systems (SCADA), the speed of STP
recovery to topology changes might be adequate when
temporary loss of communication will not render local
control useless. But if STP is too slow in implementing
a topology change your industrial network, RSTP
should be considered.

REFERENCES
ANSI/IEEE Std 802.1D™-1998, Part 3: Media Access
Control (MAC) Bridges, The Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
ANSI/IEEE Std 802.1D™-2004, Part 3: Media Access
Control (MAC) Bridges, The Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
ANSI/IEEE Std 802.1w-2001, Part 3, Amendment 2:
Rapid Reconfiguration, The Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers, Inc.
The Switch Book, Rich Seifert, 2000 Wiley Computer
Publishing.

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