CAP 9

HISTORY STP
• Historically, the IEEE first standardized STP as part of the IEEE
802.1D standard back in 1990, with pre-standard versions working
even before that time. Over time (con el tiempo), the industry and
IEEE improved STP, with the eventual replacement of STP with an
improved protocol: Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP). The
IEEE first released RSTP as amendment (enmienda) 802.1w and, in
2004, integrated RSTP into the 802.1D standard.
• The most recent models and IOS versions of Cisco switches default to
use RSTP instead of STP.
STP and RSTP Basics

• Without some mechanism like Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) or Rapid STP (RSTP), a LAN with
redundant links would cause Ethernet frames to loop(repitan) for an indefinite period of time. With STP
or RSTP enabled, some switches block ports so that these ports do not forward frames. STP and RSTP
intelligently choose which ports block, with two goals in mind:
■ All devices in a VLAN can send frames to all other devices. In other words, STP or RSTP does not block too many
ports (demasiados puertos), cutting off (cortando) some parts of the LAN from other parts.

■ Frames have a short life and do not loop (circulan) around the network indefinitely.

STP and RSTP strike a balance (establecen un equilibrio), allowing frames to be delivered to each device,
without causing the problems that occur when frames loop (circulan) through the network over and over
again (uno y otra vez).
• STP/RSTP prevents looping frames by adding an additional check on each interface before a switch

uses it to send or receive user traffic.

• If the port is in STP/RSTP forwarding state in that VLAN, use it as normal; if it is in STP/RSTP

blocking state, however, block all user traffic and do not send or receive user traffic on that interface
in that VLAN.

• Note that these STP/RSTP states do not change the other information you already know about switch

interfaces. The interface’s state of connected/notconnect does not change. The interface’s operational
state as either an access or trunk port does not change. STP/RSTP adds this additional state, with the
blocking state basically disabling the interface.
The Need for Spanning Tree
• Just one looping frame (trama en bluce)
causes what is called a broadcast storm.
Broadcast storms happen when any kind of
Ethernet frames—broadcast frames,
multicast frames, or unknown-destination
unicast frames—loop around (circulan) a
LAN indefinitely. Broadcast storms can
saturate all the links with copies of that one
single frame, crowding (desplace) out good
frames, as well as significantly impacting
end-user device performance by making the
PCs process too many broadcast frames.
 Storm
• The storm also causes a much more subtle (sutil) problem
called MAC table instability.
• MAC table instability means that the switches’ MAC
address tables keep changing because frames with the same
source MAC arrive on different ports.
• En el ejemplo, en el primer momento al SW3 llega con la
mac-address de Bob, entonces en su table MAC de SW3
será:
0200.3333.3333 Fa0/13 VLAN 1
• Pero una vez que envie a SW2, luego SW2 envia a SW1
está llendo con la misma dirección MAC de Origen la
trama, hasta que llega al SW3 nuevamente y este mira que
la dirección MAC vino con el origen 0200.3333.3333 por el
SW1 por la interfaz Gig 0/1, entonces lo actualiza.
0200.3333.3333 Gi0/1 VLAN 1
• RECORDATORIO: el switch envia tramas brodcast por
todos sus puertos, pero aprende por donde vino esa mac
(asocia el puerto) mas no cambia nada, solo se fija si la
entrada con la mac de destino está en su tabla mac, al no
estar y ser un brodcast reenvia por todos los puertos. !!!ojo
el switch no tiene la función de cambiar nada en la trama,
solo el router cambia la mac de origen cuando la dirección
de destino está en otra red!!!!
Third Problem of Broadcast Storm
• The looping frames in a broadcast storm also cause a third problem:
multiple copies of the frame arrive at the destination.
• Unknow destination unicast-> Estos paquetes pueden tener cualquier
dirección MAC que no esté presente en la tabla de direcciones MAC
del switch. En otras palabras, si la dirección MAC de destino de un
paquete no está en la tabla del switch, el switch reenviará el paquete a
todos los puertos excepto el puerto entrante. Esto se conoce como un
unicast desconocido.
Ejemplo tercer
problema:
• Consider a case in which Bob
sends a frame to Larry but none of
the switches know Larry’s MAC
address. Switches flood frames
sent to unknown destination
unicast MAC addresses. When
Bob sends the frame destined for
Larry’s MAC address, SW3 sends
a copy to both SW1 and SW2.
SW1 and SW2 also flood the
frame, causing copies of the frame
to loop. SW1 also sends a copy of
each frame out Fa0/11 to Larry. As
a result, Larry gets multiple copies
of the frame, which may result in
an application failure, if not more
pervasive networking problems.
3 clases de problemas causados sin aplicar STP
What Spanning Tree Does

• STP/RSTP prevents loops by placing each switch port in either a

forwarding state or a blocking state. Interfaces in the forwarding
state act as normal, forwarding and receiving frames. However,
interfaces in a blocking state do not process any frames except
STP/RSTP messages (and some other overhead messages). Interfaces
that block do not forward user frames, do not learn MAC addresses of
received frames, and do not process received user frames.
 Solución al
problema:
Now when Bob sends a broadcast frame, the frame does not
loop. As shown in the steps in the figure:
•Step 1. Bob sends the frame to SW3.
•Step 2. SW3 forwards the frame only to SW1, but not out
Gi0/2 to SW2, because SW3’s Gi0/2 interface is in a blocking
state.
•Step 3. SW1 floods the frame out both Fa0/11 and Gi0/1.
•Step 4. SW2 floods the frame out Fa0/12 and Gi0/1.
•Step 5. SW3 physically receives the frame, but it ignores the
frame received from SW2 because SW3’s Gi0/2 interface is in
a blocking state.

With the STP/RSTP topology in Figure 9-2, the switches

simply do not use the link between SW2 and SW3 for traffic
in this VLAN, which is the minor negative side effect of STP.
However, if either of the other two links fails, STP/RSTP
converges so that SW3 forwards instead of blocks on its Gi0/2
interface.
Convergencia
• NOTE The term STP convergence refers to the process by which the
switches collectively realize that something has changed in the LAN
topology and determine whether they need to change which ports
block and which ports forward.
• The process used by STP, sometimes called the spanning-tree
algorithm (STA), chooses the interfaces that should be placed into a
forwarding state.
STP/RSTP uses three criteria to choose whether to put an interface
in forwarding state:
• STP/RSTP elects a root switch. STP puts all working interfaces on the root switch in forwarding state.

• Each non root switch considers one of its ports to have the least administrative cost (tiene el menor costo )

between itself (él mismo) and the root switch. The cost is called that switch’s root cost. STP/RSTP places its

port that is part of the least (menor) root cost path, called that switch’s root port (RP), in forwarding state.

• Many switches can attach to the same Ethernet segment, but due to the fact that links connect two devices, a

link would have at most (a lo mucho/máximo) two switches. With two switches on a link, the switch with the

lowest(mas bajo) root cost, as compared with the other switches attached to the same link, is placed in

forwarding state. That switch is the designated switch, and that switch’s interface, attached to that segment, is

called the designated port (DP).

REASON FOR FORWARDING OR BLOCKING
 The STP Bridge ID and Hello BPDU
• The STA begins with an election of one switch to be the root switch.

• The STP/RSTP bridge ID (BID) is an 8-byte value unique to each switch. The bridge ID consists of a 2-
byte priority field and a 6-byte system ID, with the system ID being based on a universal (burned-in)
MAC address in each switch. Using a burned-in MAC address ensures that each switch’s bridge ID will be
unique.

• STP/RSTP defines messages called bridge protocol data units (BPDU), also called configuration BPDUs,
which switches use to exchange information with each other. The most common BPDU, called a Hello
BPDU, lists many details, including the sending switch’s BID. By listing its own unique BID, switches
can tell which switch sent which Hello BPDU.
FIELDS IN THE STP HELLO BPDU
Electing the Root Switch

• Switches elect a root switch based on the BIDs in the BPDUs. The root switch is the switch with the lowest numeric value

for the BID. Because the two-part BID starts with the priority value, essentially the switch with the lowest priority becomes

the root. For example, if one switch has priority 4096, and another switch has priority 8192, the switch with priority 4096

wins, regardless of what MAC address was used to create the BID for each switch.

• If a tie occurs based on the priority portion of the BID, the switch with the lowest MAC address portion of the BID is the

root. No other tiebreaker should be needed because switches use one of their own universal (burned-in) MAC addresses as

the second part of their BIDs. So if the priorities tie, and one switch uses a MAC address of 0200.0000.0000 as part of the

BID and the other uses 0811.1111.1111, the first switch (MAC 0200.0000.0000) becomes the root switch.
Elección del switch raiz
• The process begins with all switches claiming (afirmando) to be the root
by sending Hello BPDUs listing their own BID as the root BID. If a
switch hears a Hello that lists a better (lower) BID that switch stops
advertising itself as root and starts forwarding the superior Hello. The
Hello sent by the better switch lists the better switch’s BID as the root.

NOTA:
• A better Hello, meaning that the listed root’s BID is better (numerically
lower), is called a superior Hello; a worse Hello, meaning that the listed
root’s BID is not as good (numerically higher), is called an inferior Hello.
 Ejemplo claro de entender:
• Figure 9-3 shows the beginning of the root election
process. In this case, SW1 has advertised itself as
root, as have (al igual) SW2 and SW3. However,
SW2 now believes that SW1 is a better root, so
SW2 is now forwarding the Hello originating at
SW1. So, at this point, the figure shows SW1 is
saying Hello, claiming to be root; SW2 agrees and
is forwarding SW1’s Hello that lists SW1 as root;
but SW3 is still claiming to be best, sending its
own Hello BPDUs, listing SW3’s BID as the root.
• Two candidates still exist in Figure 9-3: SW1 and
SW3. So, who wins? Well, from the BID, the
lower-priority switch wins; if a tie occurs, the
lower MAC address wins. As shown in the figure,
SW1 has a lower BID (32769:0200.0001.0001)
than SW3 (32769:0200.0003.0003), so SW1 wins,
and SW3 now also believes that SW1 is the better
switch.
Comparaciones entre SW’s
para elegir el menor BID

La comparación es por:
• The lowest priority.
• If that ties, the lowest switch MAC
address.
Choosing Each Switch’s Root Port
• The second part of the STP/RSTP process occurs when each non root
switch chooses its one and only root port.
• A switch’s RP is its interface through which it has the least STP/RSTP
cost to reach the root switch (least root cost).
Choosing Each Switch’s Root Port
•Figure 9-5 shows just such a figure, with the same three
switches shown in the last several figures. SW1 has
already won the election as root, and the figure considers
the cost from SW3’s perspective. (Note that the figure
uses some nondefault cost settings.).
•SW3 has two possible physical paths to send frames to
the root switch: the direct path to the left and the indirect
path to the right through switch SW2. The cost is the
sum of the costs of all the switch ports the frame would
exit if it flowed over that path (El costo es la suma de los
costos de todos los puertos del switch de los que saldría
la trama si fluyera por ese camino). (The calculation
ignores the inbound ports.) As you can see, the cost over
the direct path out SW3’s G0/1 port has a total cost of 5,
and the other path has a total cost of 8. SW3 picks its
G0/1 port as root port because it is the port that is part of
the least-cost path to send frames to the root switch.
 Costo de puerto para llegar al switch raiz
• The STP/RSTP port cost is simply an integer
value assigned to each interface, per VLAN, for
the purpose of providing an objective
measurement (medida) that allows STP/RSTP to
choose which interfaces to add to the STP/RSTP
topology. The switches also look at their
neighbor’s root cost, as announced in Hello
BPDUs received from each neighbor.
• Figure 9-6 shows an example of how switches
calculate their best root cost and then choose their
root port, using the same topology and STP/RSTP
costs as shown in Figure 9-5. STP/RSTP on SW3
calculates its cost to reach the root over the two
possible paths by adding the advertised cost (in
Hello messages) to the interface costs listed in the
figure.
Continuación
• Focus on the process for a moment. The root switch sends Hellos, with a listed root cost
of 0. The idea is that the root’s cost to reach itself is 0.
• Next, look on the left of the figure. SW3 takes the received cost (0) from the Hello sent
by SW1 and adds the interface cost (5) of the interface on which that Hello was received.
SW3 calculates that the cost to reach the root switch, out that port (G0/1), is 5
• On the right side, SW2 has realized its best cost to reach the root is cost 4. So, when SW2
forwards the Hello toward SW3, SW2 lists a root cost 4. SW3’s STP/RSTP port cost on
port G0/2 is 4, so SW3 determines a total cost to reach root out its G0/2 port of 8.
• As a result of the process depicted in Figure 9-6, SW3 chooses Gi0/1 as its RP because
the cost to reach the root switch through that port (5) is lower than the other alternative
(Gi0/2, cost 8). Similarly, SW2 chooses Gi0/2 as its RP, with a cost of 4 (SW1’s
advertised cost of 0 plus SW2’s Gi0/2 interface cost of 4). Each switch places its root
port into a forwarding state.
¿Cómo rompen el empate si hay 2 rutas hacia
la raíz de igual costo?
• Switches need a tiebreaker to use in case the best root cost
ties for two or more paths. If a tie occurs, the switch applies
these three tiebreakers to the paths that tie, in order, as
follows:
• 1. Choose based on the lowest neighbor bridge ID.
• 2. Choose based on the lowest neighbor port priority.
• 3. Choose based on the lowest neighbor internal port number
 Choosing the Designated Port on Each
LAN Segment
• STP/RSTP’s final step to choose the STP/RSTP topology is to choose the
designated port on each LAN segment.
• The designated port (DP) on each LAN segment is the switch port that
advertises the lowest-cost Hello onto a LAN segment.
• When a non root switch forwards a Hello, the non root switch sets the
root cost field in the Hello to that switch’s cost to reach the root. In
effect, the switch with the lower cost to reach the root, among (entre) all
switches connected to a segment, becomes the DP on that segment.
• All DPs are placed into a forwarding state; so, in this case, SW2’s Gi0/1
interface will be in a forwarding state.
• For example, earlier Figure 9-4 shows in bold text the parts of the Hello
messages from both SW2 and SW3 that determine the choice of DP on
that segment. Note that both SW2 and SW3 list their respective cost
to reach the root switch (cost 4 on SW2 and cost 5 on SW3). SW2
lists the lower cost, so SW2’s Gi0/1 port is the designated port on
that LAN segment.
• All DPs are placed into a forwarding state; so in this case, SW2’s Gi0/1
interface will be in a forwarding state.
• If the advertised costs tie, the switches break the tie by choosing the
switch with the lower BID. In this case, SW2 would also have won,
with a BID of 32769:0200.0002.0002 versus SW3’s
32769:0200.0003.0003
Configuring to Influence the STP Topology

• STP/RSTP works by default on Cisco switches, so all the settings needed by a switch have
a useful default.
• Switches have a default BID, based on a default priority value and adding a universal MAC
address that comes with the switch hardware.
• Switch interfaces have default STP/RSTP costs based on the current operating speed of the
switch interfaces.
• to change the BID, the engineer can set the priority used by the switch, while continuing to
use the universal MAC address as the final 48 bits of the BID. For instance, giving a switch
the lowest priority value among all switches will cause that switch to win the root election.
• Port costs also have default values, per port, per VLAN. You can configure these port costs,
which will in turn impact many switch’s calculations of the root cost. For instance, to favor
one link, give the ports on that link a lower cost, or to avoid a link, give the ports a higher
cost.
if you prefer the defaults in the right-side column of Table 9-6, note that Cisco Catalyst switches can be configured to
use those values as defaults with a single global configuration command on each switch (spanning-tree pathcost
method long).
STP Activity When the Network Remains Stable
• Un conmutador raíz STP envía una nueva BPDU de saludo cada 2 segundos de forma predeterminada. Cada conmutador no raíz reenvía el saludo a todos los DP(puertos

designados), pero solo después de cambiar los elementos enumerados en el saludo. (Como resultado, el saludo fluye una vez por cada enlace en funcionamiento en la

LAN).

• Al reenviar el Hello BPDU, cada conmutador establece el costo raíz según el costo raíz calculado de ese conmutador local. El conmutador también establece el campo "ID

de puente del remitente" en su propio ID de puente. (El campo ID del puente de la raíz no cambia).

• Assuming a default Hello timer of 2 seconds on the root switch, each switch will forward the received (and changed) Hellos out all DPs so that all switches continue to

receive Hellos every 2 seconds. The following steps summarize the steady-state operation when nothing is currently changing in the STP topology:

• Step 1. The root creates and sends a Hello BPDU, with a root cost of 0, out all its working interfaces (those in a forwarding state).

• Step 2. The non root switches receive the Hello on their root ports. After changing the Hello to list their own BID as the sender’s BID and listing that switch’s root cost ,

the switch forwards the Hello out all designated ports.

• Step 3. Steps 1 and 2 repeat until something changes.

• When a switch fails to receive a Hello, it knows a problem might be occurring in the network. Each switch relies on these periodically received

Hellos from the root as a way to know that its path to the root is still working (Cada conmutador se basa en estos saludos recibidos

periódicamente desde la raíz como una forma de saber que su ruta a la raíz todavía está funcionando.) . When a switch ceases to receive the

Hellos, or receives a Hello that lists different details, something has failed, so the switch reacts and starts the process of changing the

spanning-tree topology.
STP Timers That Manage STP • Note that all switches use the timers as dictated by the root switch,
Convergence which the root lists in its periodic Hello BPDU messages.
HOW LONG?CUANTO TIEMPO • the STP convergence process requires the use of three timers.
CEASING->DEJAR • If a switch does not get an expected Hello BPDU within the Hello
INTERIM->PROVICIONAL time, the switch continues as normal. However, if the Hellos do not
show up again within MaxAge time, the switch reacts by taking
steps to change the STP topology. With default settings, MaxAge is
20 seconds (10 times the default Hello timer of 2 seconds). So, a
switch would go 20 seconds without hearing a Hello before reacting.
• After MaxAge expires, the switch essentially makes all its STP choices
again, based on any Hellos it receives from other switches. It reevaluates
which switch should be the root switch. If the local switch is not the root,
it chooses its RP. And it determines whether it is DP on each of its other
links.
• The best way to describe STP convergence is to show an example using
the same familiar topology. Figure 9-7 shows the same familiar figure,
with SW3’s Gi0/2 in a blocking state, but SW1’s Gi0/2 interface has just
failed.
• In the scenario shown in the figure, SW3 reacts to the change because
SW3 fails to receive its expected Hellos on its Gi0/1 interface. However,
SW2 does not need to react because SW2 continues to receive its
periodic Hellos in its Gi0/2 interface. In this case, SW3 reacts either
when MaxAge time passes without hearing the Hellos, or as soon as
SW3 notices that interface Gi0/1 has failed. (If the interface fails, the
switch can assume that the Hellos will not be arriving in that interface
anymore.)
• Now that SW3 can act, it begins by reevaluating the choice of root
switch. SW3 still receives the Hellos from SW2, as forwarded from the
root (SW1). SW1 still has a lower BID than SW3; otherwise, SW1
would not have already been the root. So, SW3 decides that SW1 wins
the root election and that SW3 is not the root.
• Next, SW3 reevaluates its choice of RP. At this point, SW3 is receiving
Hellos on only one interface: Gi0/2. Whatever the calculated root cost,
Gi0/2 becomes SW3’s new RP. (The cost would be 8, assuming the STP
costs had no changes since Figures 9-5 and 9-6.)
• SW3 then reevaluates its role as DP on any other interfaces. In this
example, no real work needs to be done. SW3 was already DP on
interface Fa0/13, and it continues to be the DP because no other switches
connect to that port.
 Changing Interface States with STP

• STP uses the idea of roles and states. Roles, like root port and designated port, relate to how STP analyzes the LAN topology. States, like forwarding and blocking, tell a switch whether to

send or receive frames. When STP converges, a switch chooses new port roles, and the port roles determine the state (forwarding or blocking).

• when a port that formerly blocked needs to transition to forwarding, the switch first puts the port through two intermediate interface states. These temporary STP states help prevent

temporary loops:

• Listening: Like the blocking state, the interface does not forward frames. The switch removes old stale(obsoletas) (unused) MAC table entries for which no frames are received from

each MAC address during this period. These stale MAC table entries could be the cause of the temporary loops. ( Al igual que el estado de bloqueo, la interfaz no reenvía tramas. El

conmutador elimina las entradas antiguas de la tabla MAC obsoletas (no utilizadas) para las cuales no se reciben tramas de cada dirección MAC durante este período. Estas entradas

obsoletas de la tabla MAC podrían ser la causa de los bucles temporales).

• Learning: Interfaces in this state still do not forward frames, but the switch begins to learn the MAC addresses of frames received on the interface.

• STP moves an interface from blocking to listening, then to learning, and then to forwarding state. STP leaves the interface in each interim (provicional) state for a time equal to the forward

delay timer, which defaults to 15 seconds. As a result, a convergence event that causes an interface to change from blocking to forwarding requires 30 seconds to transition from blocking to

forwarding. In addition, a switch might have to wait MaxAge seconds (default 20 seconds) before even choosing to move an interface from blocking to forwarding state.

• If SW1 simply quit (dejara) sending Hello messages to SW3, but the link between the two did not fail, SW3 would wait MaxAge seconds before reacting (20 seconds is the default). SW3

would actually quickly choose its ports’ STP roles, but then wait 15 seconds each in listening and learning states on interface Gi0/2, resulting in a 50-second convergence delay.
RSTP
• Before getting into the details of RSTP, it helps to make sense of the standards
numbers a bit. 802.1w was actually an amendment to the 802.1D standard. The
IEEE first published 802.1D in 1990, and anew in 1998. After the 1998 version of
802.1D, the IEEE published the 802.1w amendment to 802.1D in 2001, which
first standardized RSTP.
• the IEEE replaced STP with RSTP in the revised 802.1D standard in 2004. In
another move, in 2011 the IEEE moved all the RSTP details into a revised 802.1Q
standard. As it stands today, RSTP actually sits in the 802.1Q standards document.
• Mucha gente se refiere a RSTP como 802.1w porque fue el primer documento
IEEE que lo definió. Sin embargo, para los propósitos de este libro, céntrese en el
acrónimo RSTP en lugar de en los números de estándares IEEE utilizados con
RSTP a lo largo de su historia
Comparing STP and RSTP
RSTP works just like STP in several ways, as discussed in the
first major section of the chapter. To review:
• RSTP and STP elect the root switch using the same rules
and tiebreakers(desempate).
• RSTP and STP switches select their root ports with the
same rules.
• RSTP and STP elect designated ports on each LAN
segment with the same rules and tiebreakers(dempate).
• RSTP and STP place each port in either forwarding or
blocking state, although RSTP calls the blocking state
the discarding state. (estado de descarte)
¿Porqué la IEEE se molestó en crear RSTP?
• Es simplemente por la convergencia, ya que lleva 50 segundos de
esperar para que converga la red.
• RSTP improves network convergence when topology changes occur,
usually converging within a few seconds(pocos segundos) (or in slow
conditions, in about 10 seconds).
RSTP
• RSTP changes and adds to STP in ways that avoid waiting on STP timers,
resulting in quick transitions from forwarding to discarding (blocking) state
and vice versa. Specifically, RSTP, compared to STP, defines more cases in
which the switch can avoid waiting for a timer to expire, such as the
following:
• RSTP adds a mechanism by which a switch can replace its root port, without any
waiting to reach a forwarding state (in some conditions).
• RSTP adds a new mechanism to replace a designated port, without any waiting to
reach a forwarding state (in some conditions).
• RSTP lowers waiting times for cases in which RSTP must wait for a timer.
STP requires a switch to wait for MaxAge seconds, which STP defines based
on 10 times the Hello timer, or 20 seconds, by default. RSTP shortens this
timer, defining MaxAge as three times the Hello timer. Additionally, RSTP
can send messages to the neighboring switch to inquire(preguntar) whether a
problem has occurred rather than wait for timers.
 • The best way to get a sense (tener una idea) for these

Roles de puertos en mechanisms is to see how the RSTP alternate port and the
backup port both work. RSTP uses the term alternate port to
refer to a switch’s other ports that could be used as the root

RSTP port if the root port ever fails. The backup port concept
provides a backup port on the local switch for a designated
port .(Note that backup ports apply only to designs that use
hubs, so they are unlikely to be useful today.).
RSTP DIFFERS FROM STP
• RSTP differs from STP in a few other ways as well. For instance, with
STP, the root switch creates a Hello with all other switches, updating
and forwarding the Hello. With RSTP, each switch independently
generates its own Hellos. Additionally, RSTP allows for queries
between neighbors, rather than waiting on timers to expire, as a means
to avoid waiting to learn information. These types of protocol changes
help RSTP-based switches isolate what has changed in a network and
react quickly to choose a net RSTP topology
 RSTP and the Alternate (Root) Port
Role
• With STP, each nonroot switch places one port in the STP root
port (RP) role. RSTP follows that same convention, with the
same exact rules for choosing the RP. RSTP then takes another
step beyond STP, naming other possible RPs, identifying them as
alternate ports.
• Para ser un puerto alternativo, tanto el RP como el puerto
alternativo deben recibir saludos que identifiquen el mismo
conmutador raíz. For example: SW1 is the root. SW3 will receive
Hello BPDUs on two ports: G0/1 and G0/2. Both Hellos list
SW1’s bridge ID (BID) as the root switch, so
whichever(Cualquier) port is not the root port (que no sea el
Puerto raiz) meets (cumple) the criteria to be an alternate port.
SW3 picks G0/1 as its root port in this case and then makes G0/2
an alternate port.
• An alternate port basically works like the second-best option for
the root port. Por ejemplo, cuando falla el puerto raíz, o cuando
los saludos dejan de llegar al puerto raíz original, el conmutador
cambia la función y el estado del puerto raíz anterior: (a) la
función del puerto raíz a un puerto deshabilitado, y (b) el
estado de reenvío a descarte (el equivalente al estado de
bloqueo de STP). Luego, sin esperar ningún temporizador, el
conmutador cambia las funciones y el estado del puerto Notably, the new root port also does not need to
alternativo: su función cambia para ser el puerto raíz, con un
estado de reenvío.
spend time in other states, such as learning state,
instead moving immediately to forwarding state
 PASOS TRAS UN
ENLACE CAIDO EN
RSTP
Step 1. The link between SW1 and SW3 fails, so SW3’s
current root port (Gi0/1) fails.
Step 2. SW3 and SW2 exchange RSTP messages to confirm
that SW3 will now transition its former (antiguo) alternate port
(Gi0/2) to be the root port. This action causes SW2 to flush
(borre) the required (requeridas) MAC table entries.
Step 3. SW3 transitions Gi0/1 to the disabled role and Gi0/2 to
the root port role.
Step 4. SW3 transitions Gi0/2 to a forwarding state
immediately, without using learning state, because this is one
case in which RSTP knows the transition will not create a loop.
 • RSTP uses the discarding state for what STP defines as two states: disabled state and

RSTP States blocking state. Blocking should be somewhat obvious by now: the interface can work
physically, but STP/RSTP chooses to not forward traffic to avoid loops. STP’s disabled
state simply meant that the interface was administratively [Link] RSTP junta los

and Processes 2 en un estado de descarte.

EL TIEMPO DE ESPERA DE RSTP (NO
HAY TIEMPO DE ESPERA)
• RSTP, to converge more quickly, avoids relying (depender) on timers.
RSTP switches tell each other (using messages) that the topology has
changed. Those messages also direct neighboring switches to flush
(borran) the contents of their MAC tables in a way that removes all the
potentially loop-causing entries, without a wait. As a result, RSTP
creates more scenarios in which a formerly discarding port can
immediately transition to a forwarding state, without waiting, and
without using the learning state
RSTP and the Backup (Designated) Port Role

• The RSTP backup port role acts as yet another new RSTP port role as compared to STP.
As a reminder, the RSTP alternate port role creates a way for RSTP to quickly replace
a switch’s root port. Similarly, the RSTP backup port role creates a way for RSTP to
quickly replace a switch’s designated port on some LAN.
• the need for the backup port role only happens in designs that are a little unlikely today.
The reason is that a design must use hubs, which then allows the possibility that one
switch connects more than one port to the same collision domain.
 RSTP Port Types
• RSTP considers these links to be point-to-point links and the ports
connected to them to be point-to-point ports because the link
connects exactly two devices (points).
• RSTP further (además) classifies point-to-point ports into two
categories. Point-to-point ports that connect two switches are not
at the edge (borde) of the network and are simply called point-to
point ports. Ports that instead (en cambio) connect to a single
endpoint device at the edge of the network, like a PC or server, are
called point-to-point edge ports, or simply edge ports. In Figure 9-
11, SW3’s switch port connected to a PC is an edge port.
• Finally, RSTP defines the term shared to describe ports connected
to a hub. The term shared comes from the fact that hubs create a
shared Ethernet; hubs also force the attached switch port to use
half-duplex logic. RSTP assumes that all half-duplex ports may be
connected to hubs, treating ports that use half duplex as shared
ports. RSTP converges more slowly on shared ports as compared
to all point-to-point ports.
EtherChannel

• One of the best ways to lower (disminuir) STP’s convergence time is to avoid convergence
altogether (completo). EtherChannel provides a way to prevent STP convergence from
being needed when only a single port or cable failure occurs.
• EtherChannel combines multiple parallel segments of equal speed (up to eight) between the
same pair of switches, bundled(agrupado) into an EtherChannel. The switches treat the
EtherChannel as a single interface with regard to STP. As a result, if one of the links
fails, but at least one of the links is up, STP convergence does not have to occur.
• With each pair of Ethernet links configured as an EtherChannel, STP treats each
EtherChannel as a single link. In other words, both links to the same switch must fail for
a switch to need to cause STP convergence. Without EtherChannel, if you have
multiple parallel links between two switches, STP blocks all the links except one. With
EtherChannel, all the parallel links can be up and working at the same time, while reducing
the number of times STP must converge, which in turn makes the network more available
(lo que a su vez hace que la red esté más disponible.).
PortFast
• PortFast allows a switch to immediately transition from blocking to forwarding,
bypassing listening and learning states.
• PortFast is most appropriate for connections to end-user devices and no bridges,
switches, or other STP-speaking devices are connected. If you turn on PortFast on ports
connected to end-user devices, when an end-user PC boots, the switch port can move to
an STP forwarding state and forward traffic as soon as the PC NIC is active.
• With STP in particular (and not RSTP), the switch waits in the temporary listening and
learning states before settling into the forwarding state.
• As you might guess (como podrías adivinar) from the fact that PortFast speeds
convergence, RSTP includes PortFast. You might recall the mention of RSTP port types,
particularly point-to-point edge port types, around Figure 9-11. RSTP, by design of the
protocol, converges quickly on these point-to-point edge type ports by bypassing the
learning state
 BPDU Guard
• STP and RSTP open up the LAN to several different types of possible security exposures.
• An attacker could connect a switch to one of these ports, one with a low STP/RSTP priority value, and
become the root switch. The new STP/RSTP topology could have worse performance than the desired
topology.
• The attacker could plug (conectarse) into multiple ports, into multiple switches, become (convertirse)
root, and actually forward much of the traffic in the LAN. Without the networking staff realizing it (se de
cuenta), the attacker could use a LAN analyzer to copy large numbers of data frames sent through the
LAN.
• Users could innocently harm (dañar) the LAN when they buy and connect an inexpensive (económico)
consumer LAN switch (one that does not use STP/RSTP). Such a switch, without any STP/RSTP
function, would not choose to block any ports and could cause a loop.
• The Cisco BPDU Guard feature helps defeat(superar) these kinds of problems by disabling a port if
any BPDUs are received on the port. So, this feature is particularly useful on ports that should be used
only as an access port and never connected to another switch.
• Además, la función BPDU Guard ayuda a prevenir problemas con PortFast. PortFast debe habilitarse
solo en los puertos de acceso que se conectan a dispositivos de usuario, no a otros conmutadores LAN.
Usar BPDU Guard en estos mismos puertos tiene sentido porque si otro conmutador se conecta a dicho
puerto, el conmutador local puede desactivar el puerto antes de que se cree un bucle
Key Terms You Should Know
blocking state, BPDU Guard, bridge ID, bridge protocol data unit (BPDU), designated port,
EtherChannel, forward delay, forwarding state, Hello BPDU, learning state, listening state,
MaxAge, PortFast, root port, root switch, root cost, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), rapid STP
(RSTP), alternate port, backup port, disabled port, discarding state