C H A P TER

Configuring Spanning Tree

This chapter describes how to congure spanning tree on the Catalyst enterprise LAN switches.
Note For information on conguring the PortFast, UplinkFast, and BackboneFast spanning-tree

enhancements, see Chapter 9, Conguring Spanning-Tree PortFast, UplinkFast, and BackboneFast.

Note For complete syntax and usage information for the commands used in this chapter, refer to

the Command Reference publication for your switch.

This chapter consists of these sections:

Understanding How Spanning Tree Works, page 8-1 Default Spanning-Tree Conguration, page 8-12 Conguring Spanning-Tree, page 8-12

Understanding How Spanning Tree Works

These sections describe how spanning tree works:

Spanning Tree Overview, page 8-2 Election of the Root Switch, page 8-2 Bridge Protocol Data Units, page 8-3 Spanning-Tree Timers, page 8-3 Creating the Spanning-Tree Topology, page 8-4 STP Port States, page 8-4 MAC Address Allocation, page 8-11 Spanning Tree and IEEE 802.1Q Trunks, page 8-11 Understanding How Spanning-Tree for Token Ring Works, page 8-11

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Understanding How Spanning Tree Works

Spanning Tree Overview

Spanning tree is a link management protocol that provides path redundancy while preventing undesirable loops in the network. For a Layer 2 Ethernet or Token Ring network to function properly, only one active path must exist between two stations. Spanning-tree operation is transparent to end stations, which cannot detect whether they are connected to a single LAN segment or a switched LAN of multiple segments. The Catalyst enterprise LAN switches use the Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP, the IEEE 802.1D bridge protocol) on all Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and Token Ring port-based VLANs. By default, a single instance of STP runs on each congured VLAN (provided you do not manually disable STP). Depending on your hardware, you can enable and disable STP on a per-VLAN or a global basis.
Note On a Catalyst 5000 family switch with Supervisor Engine II G or III G, or Supervisor

Engine III or III F with a NetFlow Feature Card (NFFC) or NFFC II, you cannot enable or disable STP on a per-VLAN basis. STP must be enabled or disabled for all VLANs on the switch using the set spantree {enable | disable} all command.

When you create fault-tolerant internetworks, you must have a loop-free path between all nodes in a network. The spanning-tree algorithm calculates the best loop-free path throughout a switched network. Switches send and receive spanning-tree frames at regular intervals. The switches do not forward these frames, but use the frames to construct a loop-free path. Multiple active paths between stations cause loops in the network. If a loop exists in the network, hosts might receive duplicate messages. In addition, switches might learn host Media Access Control (MAC) addresses on multiple switch ports. These conditions result in an unstable network. Spanning tree denes a tree with a root switch and a loop-free path from the root to all switches in the extended Layer 2 network. STP forces redundant data paths into a standby (blocked) state. If a network segment in the spanning tree fails and a redundant path exists, the spanning-tree algorithm recalculates the spanning-tree topology and activates the standby path.

Election of the Root Switch

All switches in the Layer 2 network participating in spanning tree gather information about other switches in the network through an exchange of data messages called Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs). This exchange of messages results in the following actions:

The election of a unique root switch for each instance of spanning tree The election of a designated switch for every switched LAN segment The removal of loops in the switched network by blocking switch ports connected to redundant links

The switch with the highest bridge priority (the lowest numerical priority value) is elected as the root switch. If all switches are congured with the default priority (32768), the switch with the lowest MAC address in the Layer 2 network becomes the root switch. The spanning-tree root switch is the logical center of the spanning-tree topology in a switched network. All paths that are not needed to reach the root switch from anywhere in the switched network are placed in STP blocking mode.

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BPDUs contain information about the transmitting switch and its ports, including switch and port MAC addresses, switch priority, port priority, and port cost. The STP uses this information to elect the root switch and root port for the switched network, as well as the root port and designated port for each switched segment.

Bridge Protocol Data Units

The stable active spanning-tree topology of a switched network is determined by the following:

The unique bridge ID (MAC address) associated with each switch The path cost to the root associated with each switch port The port identier (MAC address) associated with each switch port

The switch sends conguration BPDUs to communicate and compute the spanning-tree topology. Each conguration BPDU contains the following minimal information: The unique bridge ID of the switch that the transmitting switch believes to be the root switch The cost of the path to the root from the transmitting port The identier of the transmitting port

When a switch transmits a BPDU frame, all switches connected to the LAN on which the frame is transmitted receive the BPDU. When a switch receives a BPDU, it does not forward the frame but instead uses the information in the frame to calculate a BPDU, and, if the topology changes, initiate a BPDU transmission. A BPDU exchange results in the following:

One switch is elected as the root switch. The shortest distance to the root switch is calculated for each switch. A designated switch is selected. This is the switch closest to the root switch through which frames will be forwarded to the root. A root port for each switch is selected. This is the port providing the best path from the switch to the root switch. Ports included in the spanning tree are selected.

Spanning-Tree Timers
Table 8-1 describes the spanning-tree timers that affect the entire spanning-tree performance.
Table 8-1 Variable Hello timer Forward delay timer Maximum age timer Spanning-Tree Timers Description Determines how often the switch broadcasts Hello messages to other switches. Determines the amount of time a port will remain in the listening and learning states before entering the forwarding state. Determines the amount of time protocol information received on a port is stored by the switch.

Configuring Spanning Tree 8-3

Understanding How Spanning Tree Works

Creating the Spanning-Tree Topology

In Figure 8-1, Switch A is elected as the root switch because the bridge priority of all the switches is set to the default (32768) and Switch A has the lowest MAC address. However, due to trafc patterns, number of forwarding ports, or link types, Switch A might not be the ideal root switch. By increasing the priority (lowering the numerical priority value) of the ideal switch so that it becomes the root switch, you force an STP recalculation to form a new spanning-tree topology with the ideal switch as the root.
Figure 8-1
DP DP DP RP B A DP RP D DP DP

Spanning-Tree Topology

RP C

DP
S5688

RP = Root Port DP = Designated Port

When the spanning-tree topology is calculated based on default parameters, the path between source and destination stations in a switched network might not be ideal. For instance, connecting higher-speed links to a port that has a higher number than the current root port can cause a root-port change. The goal is to make the fastest link the root port. For example, assume that port 2 on Switch B is a ber-optic link, and that port 1 on Switch B (an unshielded twisted-pair [UTP] link) is the root port. Network trafc might be more efcient over the high-speed ber-optic link. By changing the spanning-tree port priority or port cost for port 2 to a higher priority (lower numerical value) than port 1, port 2 becomes the root port.

STP Port States

Propagation delays can occur when protocol information passes through a switched LAN. As a result, topology changes can take place at different times and at different places in a switched network. When a switch port transitions directly from nonparticipation in the spanning-tree topology to the forwarding state, it can create temporary data loops. Ports must wait for new topology information to propagate through the switched LAN before starting to forward frames. They must allow the frame lifetime to expire for frames that have been forwarded using the old topology. Each port on a switch using STP exists in one of the following ve states:

Blocking Listening Learning Forwarding Disabled

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A port moves through these ve states as follows:

From initialization to blocking From blocking to listening or to disabled From listening to learning or to disabled From learning to forwarding or to disabled From forwarding to disabled

Figure 8-2 illustrates how a port moves through the ve states.

Figure 8-2 STP Port States

Power-on initialization

Blocking state

Listening state

Disabled state

Learning state

When you enable spanning tree, every switch in the network goes through the blocking state and the transitory states of listening and learning at power up. If properly congured, each port stabilizes to the forwarding or blocking state. When the spanning-tree algorithm places a port in the forwarding state, the following process occurs:
1 The port is put into the listening state while it waits for protocol information that suggests it

should go to the blocking state.

2 The port waits for the expiration of the forward delay timer, moves the port to the learning state,

and resets the forward delay timer.

3 In the learning state, the port continues to block frame forwarding as it learns station location

information for the forwarding database.

4 The port waits for the expiration of the forward delay timer and then moves the port to the

forwarding state, where both learning and forwarding are enabled.

S5691

Forwarding state

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Understanding How Spanning Tree Works

Blocking State
A port in the blocking state does not participate in frame forwarding, as shown in Figure 8-3. After initialization, a BPDU is sent to each port in the switch. A switch initially assumes it is the root until it exchanges BPDUs with other switches. This exchange establishes which switch in the network is the root. If there is only one switch in the network, no exchange occurs, the forward delay timer expires, and the ports move to the listening state. A switch always enters the blocking state following switch initialization.
Figure 8-3 Port 2 in Blocking State

Segment frames

Forwarding

Port 1 Station addresses Network management & data frames

BPDUs

Filtering database

System module

Frame forwarding

BPDUs

Network management frames

S5692

Data frames

Port 2

Blocking

Segment frames

A port in the blocking state performs as follows:

Discards frames received from the attached segment. Discards frames switched from another port for forwarding. Does not incorporate station location into its address database. (There is no learning on a blocking port, so there is no address database update.) Receives BPDUs and directs them to the system module. Does not transmit BPDUs received from the system module. Receives and responds to network management messages.

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Listening State
The listening state is the rst transitional state a port enters after the blocking state. The port enters this state when STP determines that the port should participate in frame forwarding. Figure 8-4 shows a port in the listening state.
Figure 8-4 Port 2 in Listening State

All segment frames

Forwarding

Port 1 Station addresses Network management and data frames

BPDUs

Filtering database

System module

Frame forwarding

BPDUs Data frames Port 2

Network management frames

S5693

Listening

All segment frames

BPDU and network management frames

A port in the listening state performs as follows:

Discards frames received from the attached segment. Discards frames switched from another port for forwarding. Does not incorporate station location into its address database. (There is no learning at this point, so there is no address database update.) Receives BPDUs and directs them to the system module. Processes BPDUs received from the system module. Receives and responds to network management messages.

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Understanding How Spanning Tree Works

Learning State
A port in the learning state prepares to participate in frame forwarding. The port enters the learning state from the listening state. Figure 8-5 shows a port in the learning state.
Figure 8-5 Port 2 in Learning State

All segment frames

Forwarding

Port 1 Station addresses Network management & data frames

BPDUs

Filtering database

System module

Frame forwarding

Station addresses Data frames

BPDUs

Network management frames

S5694

Port 2

Learning

All segment frames

BPDU & network management frames

A port in the learning state performs as follows:

Discards frames received from the attached segment. Discards frames switched from another port for forwarding. Incorporates station location into its address database. Receives BPDUs and directs them to the system module. Receives, processes, and transmits BPDUs received from the system module. Receives and responds to network management messages.

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Forwarding State
A port in the forwarding state forwards frames, as shown in Figure 8-6. The port enters the forwarding state from the learning state.
Figure 8-6 Port 2 in Forwarding State

All segment frames

Forwarding

Port 1 Station addresses Network management & data frames

BPDUs

Filtering database

System module

Frame forwarding

Station addresses

BPDUs

Network management & data frames

S5695

Port 2

Forwarding

All segment frames

A port in the forwarding state performs as follows:

Forwards frames received from the attached segment. Forwards frames switched from another port for forwarding. Incorporates station location information into its address database. Receives BPDUs and directs them to the system module. Processes BPDUs received from the system module. Receives and responds to network management messages.

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Understanding How Spanning Tree Works

Disabled State
A port in the disabled state does not participate in frame forwarding or STP, as shown in Figure 8-7. A port in the disabled state is virtually nonoperational.
Figure 8-7 Port 2 in Disabled State

All segment frames

Forwarding

Port 1 Station addresses Network management and data frames

BPDUs

Filtering database

System module

Frame forwarding

Network management frames Port 2

S5696

Data frames

Disabled

All segment frames

A disabled port performs as follows:

Discards frames received from the attached segment. Discards frames switched from another port for forwarding. Does not incorporate station location into its address database. (There is no learning, so there is no address database update.) Receives BPDUs, but does not direct them to the system module. Does not receive BPDUs for transmission from the system module. Receives and responds to network management messages.

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MAC Address Allocation

The supervisor engine has a pool of 1024 MAC addresses that are used as the bridge IDs for the VLAN spanning trees. You can use the show module command to view the MAC address range for the supervisor engine. MAC addresses are allocated sequentially, with the rst MAC address in the range assigned to VLAN 1, the second MAC address in the range assigned to VLAN 2, and so forth. The last MAC address in the range is assigned to the supervisor engine in-band (sc0) management interface. For example, if the MAC address range for the supervisor engine is 00-e0-1e-9b-2e-00 to 00-e0-1e-9b-31-ff, the VLAN 1 bridge ID is 00-e0-1e-9b-2e-00, the VLAN 2 bridge ID is 00-e0-1e-9b-2e-01, the VLAN 3 bridge ID is 00-e0-1e-9b-2e-02, and so forth. The in-band (sc0) interface MAC address is 00-e0-1e-9b-31-ff.

Spanning Tree and IEEE 802.1Q Trunks

IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunks impose some limitations on the spanning-tree strategy for a network. In a network of Cisco switches connected through 802.1Q trunks, the switches maintain one instance of spanning tree for each VLAN allowed on the trunks. However, non-Cisco 802.1Q switches maintain only one instance of spanning tree for all VLANs allowed on the trunks. When you connect a Cisco switch to a non-Cisco device through an 802.1Q trunk, the Cisco switch combines the spanning-tree instance of the 802.1Q native VLAN of the trunk with the spanning-tree instance of the non-Cisco 802.1Q switch. However, all per-VLAN spanning tree information is maintained by Cisco switches separated by a cloud of non-Cisco 802.1Q switches. The non-Cisco 802.1Q cloud separating the Cisco switches is treated as a single trunk link between the switches.
Note For more information on IEEE 802.1Q trunks, see Chapter 12, Conguring VLAN Trunks

on Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet Ports.

Understanding How Spanning-Tree for Token Ring Works

Token Ring runs spanning tree both at the Token Ring Concentrator Relay Function (TrCRF) level and the Token Ring Bridge Relay Function (TrBRF) level. The TrCRF spanning tree removes loops in the logical ring. The TrBRF spanning tree, like the Ethernet spanning tree, interacts with other switches to remove loops from the spanning-tree topology. The Catalyst 5000 family Token Ring modules support these STPs:

IEEE 802.1D STP IBM STP Cisco STP

The Catalyst 5000 family switches use the IEEE 802.1D and IBM STPs on TrBRFs. The STP that runs on the TrCRF is either the Cisco or IEEE STP, depending on the bridging mode you congured for the TrCRF with the set vlan command.
Caution Certain TrBRF STP and TrCRF bridge mode congurations are incompatible and can

place the TrCRFs in a blocked state. For more information about these congurations, see the Setting the Spanning-Tree Port State section on page 8-19.

Configuring Spanning Tree 8-11

Default Spanning-Tree Configuration

Default Spanning-Tree Conguration

Table 8-2 shows the default spanning-tree conguration.
Table 8-2 Feature Enable state Bridge priority Port priority Port-VLAN priority Port cost Spanning-Tree Default Conguration Default Value Spanning tree enabled for all VLANs 32768 32 (global) Same as port priority but congurable on a per-VLAN basis Gigabit Ethernet: 4 Fast Ethernet: 10 FDDI/CDDI: 10 Ethernet: 100 Token Ring: 250 Port-VLAN cost Hello time Forward delay time Maximum aging time Same as port cost but congurable on a per-VLAN basis 2 seconds 12 seconds 20 seconds

Conguring Spanning-Tree
These sections describe how to congure STP on any Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and Token Ring port-based VLANs:

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Enabling Spanning Tree, page 8-13 Conguring the Root Switch, page 8-13 Conguring a Secondary Root Switch, page 8-14 Conguring the Global Port Priority, page 8-15 Conguring the Port-VLAN Priority, page 8-15 Conguring Global Port Cost, page 8-16 Conguring Port-VLAN Cost, page 8-17 Conguring the Bridge Priority, page 8-17 Conguring the Hello Time, page 8-18 Conguring the Forward-Delay Time, page 8-18 Conguring the Maximum Aging Time, page 8-18 Setting the STP Type for a TrBRF, page 8-19 Setting the Spanning-Tree Port State, page 8-19 Specifying the STP Functional Address for a TrBRF, page 8-20 Disabling STP, page 8-20

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Enabling Spanning Tree

Note Spanning tree is enabled by default on VLAN 1 and on all newly created VLANs.

Depending on your hardware, you can enable spanning tree on a per-VLAN or a global basis. In either case, the switch maintains a separate instance of spanning tree for each VLAN (except on VLANs on which you disable spanning tree). On Catalyst 5000 family switches with Supervisor Engine II G or III G, or with Supervisor Engine III or III F with NFFC or NFFC II, you must enable spanning tree globally for all VLANs using the all keyword. If you do not specify the vlans, VLAN 1 is assumed. To enable spanning tree on a per-VLAN or global basis, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task
Step 1 Step 2

Command Enable spanning tree on a per-VLAN or global basis. Verify that spanning tree is enabled. set spantree enable [vlans] set spantree enable all show spantree [vlan]

This example shows how to enable spanning tree globally for all VLANs on a Catalyst 5000 family switch with Supervisor Engine III G:
Console> (enable) set spantree enable all Spantree enabled. Console> (enable)

This example shows how to enable spanning tree on VLAN 100:

Console> (enable) set spantree enable 100 Spantree 100 enabled. Console> (enable)

Conguring the Root Switch

The Catalyst enterprise LAN switches maintain a separate instance of the spanning tree for each active VLAN congured on the switch. A bridge ID (MAC address) and bridge priority are associated with each instance of spanning tree. The switch with the lowest bridge priority becomes the root switch for that instance of spanning tree. When you congure a switch as the root, the spanning-tree bridge priority is modied from the default value (32768) to a signicantly lower value so that the switch becomes the root for the specied VLANs. The switch checks the bridge priority of the current root switches for each VLAN. The bridge priority for the specied VLANs is set to 8192 if this value will cause the switch to become the root for the specied VLANs. If any root switch for the specied VLANs has a bridge priority lower than 8192, the switch sets the bridge priority for the specied VLANs to 1 less than the lowest bridge priority.

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Configuring Spanning-Tree

For example, if all switches in the network have the bridge priority for VLANs 100 through 200 set to the default value of 32768, entering the set spantree root 100-200 command on a switch will set the bridge priority for VLANs 100 through 200 to 8192, causing the switch to become the root switch for those VLANs. However, if the bridge priority for VLAN 150 on one of the other switches in the network is set to 4000, entering the set spantree root 100-200 command on another switch will set the bridge priority for VLANs 100 through 200 to 3999, again causing the switch to become the root switch for those VLANs. If reducing the bridge priority to 1 still does not make the switch the root switch for the specied VLANs, the system displays a message.
Note The root switch for each instance of spanning tree should be a backbone or distribution

switch. Do not congure an access switch as the spanning-tree root.

Use the dia network_diameter keywords to specify the Layer 2 network diameter (that is, the maximum number of bridge hops between any two hosts in the Layer 2 network). When you specify the network diameter, the switch automatically picks an optimal Hello time, forward delay time, and maximum age time for a network of that diameter, which can signicantly reduce the spanning-tree convergence time. You can use the hello hello_time keywords to override the automatically calculated Hello time.
Note We recommend that you avoid conguring the Hello time, forward delay time, and maximum

age time manually after conguring the switch as the root.

To congure a switch as the root switch, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task Congure a switch as the root switch. Command set spantree root vlans [dia network_diameter] [hello hello_time]

This example shows how to congure the switch as the root switch for VLANs 110, with a network diameter of 4:
Console> (enable) VLANs 1-10 bridge VLANs 1-10 bridge VLANs 1-10 bridge VLANs 1-10 bridge Switch is now the Console> (enable) set spantree root 1-10 dia 4 priority set to 8192 max aging time set to 14 seconds. hello time set to 2 seconds. forward delay set to 9 seconds. root switch for active VLANs 1-6.

Conguring a Secondary Root Switch

When you congure a switch as the secondary root, the spanning-tree bridge priority is modied from the default value (32768) to 16384 so that the switch is likely to become the root for the specied VLANs if the primary root switch fails (assuming the other switches in the network use the default bridge priority of 32768).

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You can run this command on more than one switch to congure multiple backup root switches. Use the same network diameter and Hello time values as you used when conguring the primary root switch. To congure a switch as the secondary root switch, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task Congure a switch as the secondary root switch. Command set spantree root secondary vlans [dia network_diameter] [hello hello_time]

This example shows how to congure a switch as the secondary root switch for VLANs 22 and 24:
Console> (enable) set spantree root secondary 22,24 dia 5 hello 1 VLANs 22,24 bridge priority set to 16384. VLANs 22,24 bridge max aging time set to 10 seconds. VLANs 22,24 bridge hello time set to 1 second. VLANs 22,24 bridge forward delay set to 7 seconds. Console> (enable)

Conguring the Global Port Priority

You can change the global port priority of switch ports. The port with the lowest priority value forwards frames for all VLANs. The possible priority range is 0 through 63. If all ports have the same priority value, the port with the lowest port number forwards frames. To change the global port priority for a port, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task
Step 1 Step 2

Command Change the global port priority for a switch port. Verify the port priority setting. set spantree portpri mod_num/port_num priority show spantree [mod_num/port_num]

This example shows how to change the global port priority for a port and verify the conguration:
Console> (enable) set spantree portpri 1/2 20 Bridge port 1/2 port priority set to 20. Console> (enable) show spantree 1/2 Port Vlan Port-State Cost Priority --------- ---- ------------- ----- -------1/2 1 blocking 19 20 1/2 100 forwarding 19 20 1/2 521 blocking 19 20 1/2 522 blocking 19 20 1/2 523 blocking 19 20 1/2 524 blocking 19 20 1/2 1003 not-connected 19 20 1/2 1005 not-connected 19 4 Console> (enable)

Fast-Start ---------disabled disabled disabled disabled disabled disabled disabled disabled

Group-method ------------

Conguring the Port-VLAN Priority

You can set the port priority for a port on a per-VLAN basis. The port with the lowest priority value for a specic VLAN forwards frames for that VLAN. The possible priority range is 0 through 63. If all ports have the same priority value for a particular VLAN, the port with the lowest port number forwards frames for that VLAN. If you do not specify the vlan, VLAN 1 is assumed.

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Configuring Spanning-Tree

To change the port-VLAN priority for a port, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task
Step 1 Step 2

Command Change the port-VLAN priority for a VLAN on a switch port. Verify the port-VLAN priority setting. set spantree portvlanpri mod_num/port_num priority [vlans] show spantree [mod_num/port_num]

This example shows how to change the port-VLAN priority on a port and verify the conguration:
Console> (enable) set spantree portvlanpri 1/2 1 100 Port 1/2 vlans 1-99,101-1004 using portpri 32. Port 1/2 vlans 100 using portpri 1. Port 1/2 vlans 1005 using portpri 4. Console> (enable) show spantree 1/2 Port Vlan Port-State Cost Priority Fast-Start --------- ---- ------------- ----- -------- ---------1/2 1 blocking 19 32 disabled 1/2 100 forwarding 19 1 disabled 1/2 521 blocking 19 32 disabled 1/2 522 blocking 19 32 disabled 1/2 523 blocking 19 32 disabled 1/2 524 blocking 19 32 disabled 1/2 1003 not-connected 19 32 disabled 1/2 1005 not-connected 19 4 disabled Console> (enable)

Group-method ------------

Conguring Global Port Cost

You can change the global port cost of switch ports. Ports with lower port costs are more likely to be chosen to forward frames for all VLANs. Assign lower numbers to ports attached to faster media (such as full-duplex Fast Ethernet) and higher numbers to ports attached to slower media (such as half-duplex Ethernet). The possible range of cost is 1 to 65535. To change the global port cost for a port, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task
Step 1 Step 2

Command Change the global port cost for a switch port. Verify the port cost setting. set spantree portcost mod_num/port_num cost show spantree [mod_num/port_num]

This example shows how to change the global port cost on a port and verify the conguration:
Console> (enable) set spantree portcost 1/2 10 Spantree port 1/2 path cost set to 10. Console> (enable) show spantree 1/2 Port Vlan Port-State Cost Priority --------- ---- ------------- ----- -------1/2 1 forwarding 10 20 1/2 100 forwarding 10 20 1/2 521 forwarding 10 20 1/2 522 forwarding 10 20 1/2 523 forwarding 10 20 1/2 524 forwarding 10 20 1/2 1003 not-connected 10 20 1/2 1005 not-connected 10 4 Console> (enable)

Fast-Start ---------disabled disabled disabled disabled disabled disabled disabled disabled

Group-method ------------

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Conguring Port-VLAN Cost

You can change the port cost for a port on a per-VLAN basis. Ports with lower port-VLAN costs are more likely to be chosen to forward frames for those VLANs. You should assign lower numbers to ports attached to faster media (such as full-duplex Fast Ethernet) and higher numbers to ports attached to slower media (such as half-duplex Ethernet). The possible range of cost is 1 to 65535. If you do not specify the vlan, VLAN 1 is assumed. To change the port-VLAN cost for a port, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task
Step 1 Step 2

Command Change the port-VLAN cost for a VLAN on a switch port. Verify the port-VLAN cost setting. set spantree portvlancost mod_num/port_num cost cost [vlans] show spantree [mod_num/port_num]

This example shows how to change the port-VLAN cost on a port and verify the conguration:
Console> (enable) set spantree portvlancost 1/2 cost 10 100 Port 1/2 VLANs 1-99,101-1005 have path cost 19. Port 1/2 VLANs 100 have path cost 10. Console> (enable) show spantree 1/2 Port Vlan Port-State Cost Priority Fast-Start Group-method --------- ---- ------------- ----- -------- ---------- -----------1/2 1 blocking 19 20 disabled 1/2 100 forwarding 10 20 disabled 1/2 521 blocking 19 20 disabled 1/2 522 blocking 19 20 disabled 1/2 523 blocking 19 20 disabled 1/2 524 blocking 19 20 disabled 1/2 1003 not-connected 19 20 disabled 1/2 1005 not-connected 19 4 disabled Console> (enable)

Conguring the Bridge Priority

Use the set spantree priority command to manually change the spanning-tree bridge priority for a VLAN. The possible range of bridge_priority is 0 to 65535. If you do not specify the vlan, VLAN 1 is assumed.
Note Exercise care using this command. For most situations, we recommend that you use the set

spantree root and set spantree root secondary commands to modify the bridge priority and related parameters.

To congure the spanning-tree bridge priority for a VLAN, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task
Step 1 Step 2

Command Set the bridge priority for a VLAN. Verify the conguration. set spantree priority bridge_priority [vlan] show spantree [vlan]

This example shows how to change the spanning-tree bridge priority for VLAN 100 to 8192:
Console> (enable) set spantree priority 8192 100 Spantree 100 bridge priority set to 8192. Console> (enable)

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Conguring the Hello Time

Use the set spantree hello command to manually change the spanning-tree Hello time for a VLAN. The possible range of interval is 1 to 10 seconds. If you do not specify the vlan, VLAN 1 is assumed.
Note Exercise care using this command. For most situations, we recommend that you use the set

spantree root and set spantree root secondary commands to modify the Hello time and related parameters.

To congure the spanning-tree bridge Hello time for a VLAN, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task
Step 1 Step 2

Command Set the Hello time for a VLAN. Verify the conguration. set spantree hello interval [vlan] show spantree [vlan]

This example shows how to change the spanning-tree Hello time for VLAN 100 to 7 seconds:
Console> (enable) set spantree hello 7 100 Spantree 100 hello time set to 7 seconds. Console> (enable)

Conguring the Forward-Delay Time

Use the set spantree fwddelay command to manually change the spanning-tree forward delay time for a VLAN. The possible range of delay is 4 to 30 seconds. If you do not specify the vlan, VLAN 1 is assumed.
Note Exercise care using this command. For most situations, we recommend that you use the set

spantree root and set spantree root secondary commands to modify the forward delay time and related parameters.

To congure the spanning-tree forward delay time for a VLAN, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task
Step 1 Step 2

Command Set the forward delay time for a VLAN. Verify the conguration. set spantree fwddelay delay [vlan] show spantree [vlan]

This example shows how to change the spanning-tree forward delay time for VLAN 100 to 21 seconds:
Console> (enable) set spantree fwddelay 21 100 Spantree 100 forward delay set to 21 seconds. Console> (enable)

Conguring the Maximum Aging Time

Use the set spantree maxage command to manually change the spanning-tree maximum aging time for a VLAN. The possible range of agingtime is 6 to 40 seconds. If you do not specify the vlan, VLAN 1 is assumed.
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Note Exercise care using this command. For most situations, we recommend that you use the set

spantree root and set spantree root secondary commands to modify the maximum aging time and related parameters.

To congure the spanning-tree maximum aging time for a VLAN, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task
Step 1 Step 2

Command Set the maximum aging time for a VLAN. Verify the conguration. set spantree maxage agingtime [vlan] show spantree [vlan]

This example shows how to change the spanning-tree maximum aging time for VLAN 100 to 36 seconds:
Console> (enable) set spantree maxage 36 100 Spantree 100 max aging time set to 36 seconds. Console> (enable)

Setting the STP Type for a TrBRF

You can congure the STP type to be used by a TrBRF. Note that the following STP and bridge mode congurations are incompatible and can place logical ports in a blocked state:

TrBRF is running the IBM STP and the TrCRF is in SRT mode. TrBRF is running the IEEE STP and the TrCRF is in SRB mode.

For more information, see the Setting the Spanning-Tree Port State section on page 8-19. To specify the STP type for a TrBRF, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task Specify the STP type for a TrBRF. Command set vlan vlan_num stp {ieee | ibm}

This example shows how to specify the STP type for a TrBRF:
Console> (enable) set vlan 950 stp ieee Vlan 950 configuration successful Console> (enable)

Setting the Spanning-Tree Port State

When you enable STP, every switch in the network goes through the transitory listening and learning states at power up. If properly congured, the logical ports then stabilize to the forwarding or blocking state. However, with TrBRFs and TrCRFs, the following exceptions require you to manually set the state of a logical port of a TrBRF:

TrBRF is running the IBM STP and the TrCRF is in SRT mode. TrBRF is running the IEEE STP and the TrCRF is in SRB mode.

Note If one of these congurations occurs, the logical ports are put in a blocked state and no STP

is run.
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You can use the set spantree portstate command to manually set the state of a logical port to blocked or forwarding mode. To set the state of a logical port manually, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task Manually set the state of a logical port. Command set spantree portstate trcrf {auto | block | forward} [trbrf]

Note If you disable spanning tree for a TrBRF using the set spantree disable command, the logical

ports of the TrBRF are placed in the forwarding state regardless of the state you congured using the set spantree portstate command.

This example shows how to manually set the STP state of a logical port:
Console> (enable) set spantree portstate 950 forward Portstate successfully set for tokenring crf 950 Console> (enable)

Specifying the STP Functional Address for a TrBRF

To congure a TrBRF running IEEE STP to use the bridge functional address instead of the IEEE STP address, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task Specify that a TrBRF running IEEE STP uses the bridge functional address instead of the IEEE STP address. Command set spantree multicast-address vlan_num ibm

Disabling STP
Depending on your hardware, you can disable spanning tree on a per-VLAN or a global basis. On Catalyst 5000 family switches with Supervisor Engine II G or III G, or with Supervisor Engine III or III F with NFFC or NFFC II, you must disable spanning tree globally for all VLANs using the all keyword.
Note In a Token Ring environment, if you disable STP for a TrBRF, then all ports in TrCRFs with

that TrBRF as a parent are set to the forwarding state.

If you do not specify the vlans, VLAN 1 is assumed. To disable spanning tree on a per-VLAN or global basis, perform this task in privileged mode:
Task Disable spanning tree on a per-VLAN or global basis. Command set spantree disable [vlans] set spantree disable all

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