CHAPTER
22-1
Software Configuration Guide—Release IOS XE 3.5.0SG and IOS 15.2(2)SG
OL-27597-01
22
Configuring STP and MST
This chapter describes how to configure the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) on a Catalyst 4500 series
switch. This chapter also describes how to configure the IEEE 802.1s Multiple Spanning Tree (MST)
protocol on the Catalyst 4500 series switch. MST is a new IEEE standard derived from Cisco’s
proprietary Multi-Instance Spanning-Tree Protocol (MISTP) implementation. With MST, you can map
a single spanning-tree instance to several VLANs.
This chapter provides guidelines, procedures, and configuration examples. It includes the following
major sections:
• About STP, page 22-1
• Default STP Configuration, page 22-7
• Configuring STP, page 22-7
• About MST, page 22-22
• MST Configuration Restrictions and Guidelines, page 22-29
• Configuring MST, page 22-29
Note For complete syntax and usage information for the switch commands used in this chapter, first look at
the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Switch Command Reference and related publications at this location:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products//hw/switches/ps4324/index.html
If the command is not found in the Catalyst 4500 Series Switch Command Reference, it will be found in
the larger Cisco IOS library. Refer to the Cisco IOS Command Reference and related publications at this
location:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6350/index.html
About STP
STP is a Layer 2 link management protocol that provides path redundancy while preventing undesirable
loops in the network. For a Layer 2 Ethernet network to function properly, only one active path can exist
between any two stations. A loop-free subset of a network topology is called a spanning tree. The
operation of a spanning tree is transparent to end stations, which cannot detect whether they are
connected to a single LAN segment or a switched LAN of multiple segments.
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