Configuring the Stack 77
short time to be forwarded, but all error packets except fragments are 
propagated.
■
Store and Forward
 — Received packets are buffered entirely before 
they are forwarded, which ensures that only good packets are 
forwarded to their destination. With Store and Forward, packets take 
slightly longer to be forwarded than with Fast Forward and Fragment 
Free, but no errors are propagated.
■
Intelligent
 — The stack monitors the amount of error traffic on the 
network and changes the forwarding mode accordingly. Normally, the 
stack is in Fast Forward mode. If the stack detects an error rate of 
greater than 20 errored frames per second, the forwarding mode is 
set to Store and Forward. It will return to Fast Forward mode once the 
error rate drops to 1 errored frame per second.
Units in the Switch 3300/630 family only support the Store and Forward 
forwarding mode. If the stack is set to another forwarding mode, these 
units use the Store and Forward forwarding mode.
Spanning Tree
 
Enabled / Disabled
Allows you to specify whether the stack uses the Spanning Tree Protocol 
(STP). Using STP makes your network more resilient to link failure and also 
provides a protection from loops — one of the major causes of broadcast 
storms; for more information, see “Spanning Tree Protocol”
 on 
page 193
.
CAUTION:
If you enable STP, the stack takes several seconds to configure 
itself. During this time, you cannot communicate with the stack.
You cannot enable STP if you have set up resilient links on any Switch 
units in your stack. For more information about resilient links, see 
“Setting Up Resilient Links”
 on 
page 79
.
Broadcast Storm Control
 
Enabled
 / Disabled
Allows you to specify whether the stack uses Broadcast Storm Control. If 
Broadcast Storm Control is enabled, the stack automatically creates an 
alarm for each port to monitor the level of broadcast traffic on that port. 
If the broadcast traffic level rises to 2976 frames per second, the 
broadcast traffic on the port is blocked until the broadcast traffic level 
drops to 1488 frames per second.