14 CHAPTER 1: SWITCH FEATURES OVERVIEW
■ Disable the less efficient paths.
■ Enable one of the less efficient paths if the most efficient path fails.
RSTP is an enhanced version of the STP feature and is enabled by default. 
RSTP can restore a network connection quicker than the legacy STP 
feature. RSTP can detect if it is connected to a legacy device that only 
supports IEEE 802.1D STP and will automatically downgrade to STP on 
that particular port.
STP conforms to the IEEE Std 802.1D, 1998 Edition and RSTP conforms to 
the IEEE Std 802.1w-2001.
For more information about STP and RSTP, see Chapter 4 
 “Using 
Resilience Features”.
Switch Database The Switch Database is an integral part of the Switch and is used by the 
Switch to determine if a packet should be forwarded, and which port 
should transmit the packet if it is to be forwarded. 
For more information about the Switch Database, see Chapter 5 
 “Using 
the Switch Database”.
Traffic Prioritization Using the traffic prioritization capabilities of your Switch provides Quality 
of Service (QoS) to your network through increased reliability of data 
delivery. You can prioritize traffic on your network to ensure that high 
priority data is transmitted with minimum delay.
For more information about traffic prioritization, see Chapter 6 
 “Using 
Traffic Prioritization”.
RMON Remote Monitoring (RMON) is an industry standard feature for traffic 
monitoring and collecting network statistics. The Switch software 
continually collects statistics about the LAN segments connected to the 
Switch. If you have a management workstation with an RMON 
management application, the Switch can transfer these statistics to your 
workstation on request or when a pre-defined threshold is exceeded. 
For more information about RMON and Event Notification, see Chapter 7 
 
“Status Monitoring and Statistics”.