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Catalyst 4500 Series,  Catalyst 2948G, Catalyst 2948G-GE-TX,  and Catalyst 2980G Switches Software Configuration Guide—Release 8.2GLX
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Chapter 7      Configuring Spanning Tree
Understanding How PVST+ and MISTP Modes Work
Disabled State
A port in the disabled state does not participate in frame forwarding or STP, as shown in Figure 7-7. A 
port in the disabled state is virtually nonoperational.
Figure 7-7 Port 2 in Disabled State
 A disabled port performs as follows:
• Discards frames that are received from the attached segment
• Discards frames that are switched from another port for forwarding
• Does not incorporate station location into its address database (there is no learning, so there is no 
address database update)
• Receives BPDUs but does not direct them to the system module
• Does not receive BPDUs for transmission from the system module
• Receives and responds to network management messages
Understanding How PVST+ and MISTP Modes Work
Catalyst 4500 series switches provide two proprietary spanning tree modes based on the IEEE 802.1D 
standard and one mode that is a combination of the two modes: 
• Per VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST+) 
• Rapid PVST+
• Multi-Instance Spanning Tree Protocol (MISTP)
• MISTP-PVST+ (combination mode)
Filtering
database
Frame
forwarding
System
module
Port 1
BPDUs
All segment
frames
All segment
frames
Forwarding
Disabled
Station
addresses
Network
management
and data frames
Port 2
S5696
Network
management
frames
Data
frames