About this interactive
From the lesson:
| Version | Standard | Trees | Convergence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 802.1D STP | IEEE (1990) | One | Slow |
| PVST+ | Cisco | One per VLAN | Slow |
| RSTP (802.1w) | IEEE | One | Rapid |
| Rapid PVST+ | Cisco | One per VLAN | Rapid |
| MST (802.1s) | IEEE | One per group of VLANs (instance) | Rapid |
RSTP merges disabled, blocking and listening into **discarding**, and adds the **alternate** and **backup** port roles. Two slips in the video: MST is the IEEE 802.1s standard, which Cisco implements, not a Cisco proprietary protocol; and a backup port is a second port on the same switch to a shared segment, not a server's second link.
What you'll learn
- Identify the spanning tree version from three traits: IEEE standard or Cisco proprietary, one tree or a tree per VLAN (or per instance), and slow or rapid convergence
- Recognize what RSTP changed: the discarding state and the alternate and backup port roles
Aligned to
Cisco CCNA
2.5
Interpret basic operations of Rapid PVST+ Spanning Tree Protocol
Key terms
- Spanning Tree Protocol
STP
- A network protocol that prevents loops in Ethernet networks by creating a loop-free logical topology.
- Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol
RSTP
- An IEEE 802.1w enhancement to STP that achieves much faster network convergence by defining additional port roles and states, allowing ports to transition directly to forwarding without waiting through the STP listening and learning phases. RSTP typically converges in less than one second compared to up to 50 seconds with classic STP.
- Rapid Per-VLAN Spanning Tree Plus
Rapid PVST+
- A Cisco proprietary spanning tree variant that combines the rapid convergence of RSTP with PVST+'s per-VLAN spanning tree instances, running a separate RSTP process for each VLAN. Rapid PVST+ enables both faster failover and per-VLAN load balancing across redundant switch links.
- Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol
MST
- An IEEE standard (802.1S) that maps multiple VLANs to a reduced number of spanning tree instances, improving scalability and efficiency.
- 802.1D
- The original IEEE standard for Spanning Tree Protocol, first defined in 1990, providing loop prevention in Ethernet networks.
- 802.1W
- The IEEE standard defining Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol, which significantly reduces network convergence time compared to 802.1D.
- Alternate Port
- A switch port that is not elected as a root port or designated port and is placed in a blocking state to prevent loops, serving as a backup path.
Topics
Stp
Pvst
Rstp
Rapid Pvst
Mst
Stp Versions
Interactive
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