What is spanning tree?

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I think this is the question I should have asked. My assumption was that
spanning tree was part of switching. After doing some light reading on
spanning tree, switching, and layer 2 networking I found the following.

- From Wikipedia
  switches can also implement spanning tree protocol allowing use of
  redundant links.

This tells me that spanning tree is not part of switching. It's an add
on protocol to get rid of redundant links.

This leads me to believe that spanning tree is not the problem I
mentioned before. The one at the high school where users can't find
servers on the network.

I now believe I have just filled my head with some geek info. On the one
hand I have a better understanding of switching. On the other I just
learned a lot about spanning tree that I may never use.

A small office network of one or two switches doesn't need spanning
tree. Even the high school with its 10 or so switches doesn't need
spanning tree.

I'm still a little confused.
1. Is spanning tree turned on by default
2. Do switches with VLAN support have spanning tree

I ask the last question because of IEEE standard 802.1D. It includes
both VLANs and spanning tree. However, VLANs are specified in IEEE
standard 802.1Q. :)

I wonder if this makes me sound cool or just geeky.

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Received on Tue May 9 12:45:43 2006