Bridges

&
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

Bhaskar Reddy
[email protected]

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Section: Bridges

 What is a Bridge?
 Bridges on Ethernet
 Switched Ethernet
 Types of Bridges

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What is a Bridge?

 A Bridge/Switch interconnects two or more networks at the

Data Link Layer.
 Why not a Repeater/Hub?
 Maximum Distance between two stations should not be exceeded.
 Ethernet or Token Ring : Saturation Point
 Single Collision Domain

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Ethernet Switch.

 Ethernet Switches : Multiport Transparent Bridges for

interconnecting stations using Ethernet Links.
 High port-density bridges: Switched LAN

The terms are just a marketing difference creators. (Pre 1990s :

Bridges and after that Switches). But offer the same functionality.

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Contd..

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Types of Bridges.

 Transparent Bridges: Ethernet LANs

 Translation Bridges: Ethernet <-> Token Ring
 Source Routing Bridges: Token Ring/ FDDI Networks

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Transparent Bridging

 Learning
 Flooding
 Filtering
 Forwarding
 Aging

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A unicast example

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Section: SPT

 What Is Spanning Tree and Why Use Spanning Tree

 Four-Step STP Decision Sequence
 Four-Step STP Decision Sequence
 STP States
 STP Timers
 BPDUs
 Setting the Root Bridge

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Scenario (Loops in a Network)

• Unicast frame duplication

• Multicast/Broadcast frame
multiplication(a.k.a Broadcast Storms)
• Address Table non-convergence

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Why do we have loops in the first place?

• Deliberate(Redundancy)
• Accident

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Roger That (Then lets remove those loops)

 STP : Specified an algorithm that Bridges can use to create a

loop-free logical topology.
 Formal Specification: 802.1D

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Entities..

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Key Concepts

 Bridge ID (BID)

 Port ID

 Path Cost : Indicates how close they are to other Bridges. The
faster the link, the lower the cost.
 IEE90a: Link Cost= 1000/Data Rate Mb/s
 IEEE98a : Modified Link Cost algrithm

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Path cost (contd..)

 The modified link cost algorithm uses a non-linear scale.

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The 4-step decision sequence

 Lowest Root BID

 Lowest Path Cost to Root Bridge
 Lowest Sender BID
 Lowest Port ID

Every port will save a copy of the best BPDU seen on that
port. If a new BPDU arrives this four step sequence is used to
decide if the existing BPDU (previously stored) should be
discarded and the new one saved.

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Initial STP convergence

 Elect one Root Bridge : Centre of the network

 Elect Root ports: Non-Root Bridge to the Root
 Elect Designated ports (Designated Bridges): Bridge to the
segments

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Elect one Root Bridge(Root War)

 Remember, the lowest BID wins.

 Nice. But I did not see any blood being shed! 

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Contd..

 BPDUs are special packets that bridges use to exchange

topology and Spanning Tree information with each other, sent
out every 2 seconds (default).

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Elect Root Ports

 The war is over. Now you have a King.

 Every non-Root Bridge will select one Root Port.
 Root Port Election Process: Choose the port that offers the
lowest cost to the Root (Root Path Cost).

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Elect Designated Ports

 Only one Port(Designated Port) and in turn one

Bridge(Designated Bridge) will be responsible for a segment.
 This will ensure there will be no loops.
 The Four step decision sequence is used.

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Review the convergence procedure

 First, the bridged network elects a single Root Bridge. Second,

every non-Root Bridge elects a single Root Port, the port that
is the closest to the Root Bridge. Third, the bridges elect a
single Designated Port for every segment
 The four step decision sequence (Root Bid, Root Path Cost,
Sender Bid, Port ID)
 A port stops transmitting BPDUs if it hears a better BPDU that
it would transmit itself.

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Port Roles

 Root Port (Forwarding state)

 Designated Port (Forwarding state)
 Non-Designated Port (Blocking state)

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Five Port states

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Example..

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Steady State..

 Once every Hello Time, Root Bridge send outs BPDUs through
the desginated ports.
 The Designated Bridges after receiving these BPDUs, update
them (modify Root Path cost, Bridge ID, Port ID) and send out
them on their Designated Ports. (Goes upto the leaf Bridges).
 All the Bridges receive these BPDUs.

 The ingress BPDU is checked against the best known BPDU

known on that port using the Priority vector(the 4 step
decision sequence).
Ingress BPDUs priority vector:
 Better : Configuration Update
 Same : Hold on to the state
 Worse: Reply with its BPDU

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Configuration Update

 Elect the root bridge

 Select one of its ports as the root port
 For each port, identify the designated bridge and designated
port for the LAN to which the port belongs
Needed every time something changes in the
network that may require a change in the topology.
Instances:
 A port is either enabled or disabled.
 A port's Message Age timer expires. In this case, the port is
restarted (i.e., assigned the designated role).
 The local configuration of a bridge changes.
 A bridge port receives a configuration BPDU with a superior
priority vector compared to the one previously received on the
same port.
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Contd..

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Three STP timers

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Two Types of BPDUs

 Configuration BPDUs : Root -> Designated Bridges

(Downstream)
 Topology Change Notification (TCN) BPDUs : Designated
Bridges -> Root indicating a change in Topology (Upstream)

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Configuraton BPDU

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Fields..

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TCN BPDU

 Used to indicate a change in the Topology

 Has only the first three fields of the BPDU
 Type field:
 0x00 (Binary: 0000 0000) Configuration BPDU
 0x80 (Binary: 1000 0000) Topology Change Notification (TCN)
BPDU

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Topology Change Process

Life without TCN BPDUs. (Come on dude…..)

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Lets appreciate TCN BPDUs

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Yeah…Awesome..

 When the TC (Topology Change) flag is set by the Root, all the
bridges have to change their ageing time from
300seconds(default) to 15seconds.
 The TCN BPDU reduced the failover time from 5 minutes to 50
seconds. (How?)

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When is a TCN BPDU transmitted?

 A non-forwarding bridge port (Blocking) changes state to

forwarding, or vice versa
 The root bridge ID changes
 A TCN topology change is received on a bridge port

Protocol recap:
 The bridge notifies the root bridge of the spanning tree.
 The root bridge "broadcasts" the information into the whole
network.

 Very important:
TCNs are a consequence of topology change, not a cause.

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A Real world network example

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Active Topology and N/W Admin

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Extensions.

 Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP)

 Per-VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST) : Cisco
 Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP)
 Rapid Per-VLAN Spanning Tree (R-PVST) : Cisco

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 Questions.. 

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References

 Cisco LAN Switching by Kennedy Clark http://

www.iphelp.ru/faq/24/toc.html
 The All New Switch Book by Rich Seifert
 http://
book.chinaunix.net/special/ebook/oreilly/Understanding_Linu
x_Network_Internals/0596002556/understandlni-PART-IV.ht
ml

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Videos

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihF_78oIaDI : Root Election

 http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew-bLQZCngs&feature=fvw :
Topology Change Process

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 Thank you. 

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