RE: What is spanning tree?

Spanning tree IS good for redundancy, in the sense if one switch dies
another will kick in, this goes for gateways aswell. Network loops aren't a
good thing. The issue at the school maybe a vlan issue, look to see if vlans
are configured and blocking access, with 10 or so switches I suspect this is
true.

>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.

Depends really, you decide those kinda things over a map of the network.

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

1)Catalyst switch, yes.
2)Yes, and within vlans too (PVST+).

And ummm, spanning tree isn't just a Cisco thing...

--eddie

>From: Damien Hull <dhull@digitaloverload.net>
>To: aklug@aklug.org
>Subject: What is spanning tree?
>Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 12:45:17 -0800
>
>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>Hash: SHA1
>
>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.
>
>- --
>You can get my public PGP key at https://keyserver.pgp.com
>
>Digital Overload
>http://www.digitaloverload.net
>
>Keep your data safe by doing regular backups. At Digital Overload we use
>a combination of DVD and hard drive backups. For off site storage we use
>a safe-deposit box at the bank.
>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
>Version: GnuPG v1.2.7 (GNU/Linux)
>Comment: Using GnuPG with Fedora - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
>
>iD8DBQFEYP9d+rNhalK/8UURApoLAJ9BW7Q8fQX2beq98Ce7P7m0gBNZlACfZpxr
>syVUPWbiuCwuo4ExNtK/ZTQ=
>=htIB
>-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>---------
>To unsubscribe, send email to <aklug-request@aklug.org>
>with 'unsubscribe' in the message body.
>

---------
To unsubscribe, send email to <aklug-request@aklug.org>
with 'unsubscribe' in the message body.
Received on Tue May 9 13:06:58 2006