What are these five processes?
The five processes are:
Learning
Flooding
Filtering
Forwarding
Aging
In transparent bridging, what is the learning process?
The first process a bridge goes through when it is powered on is the learning process. The MAC address table on the bridge contains no entries, and the bridge goes through the learning process to record all workstations on every interface. In the learning process, the bridge records the source MAC address and source port number in the MAC address table every time it sees a frame.
In transparent bridging, what is the flooding process?
When a bridge is first turned on, it has no MAC address in its table. When a switch receives a unicast frame, it knows the source address and port from which the unicast frame came, but no entry exists in its table for the destination address. This is called an unknown unicast frame. When a switch receives an unknown unicast frame, it sends the frame out all forwarding interfaces on the bridge except the interface that received the frame. This process is the flooding process.
In transparent bridging, what is the filtering process?
The filtering process occurs when the source and destination addresses reside on the same interface on the bridge. Because the bridge does not need to forward a frame in which the destination and source addresses reside on the same interface, it filters the frame and discards it.
In transparent bridging, what is the forwarding process?
The forwarding process occurs when a switch receives a unicast frame and has an entry of the destination address in its MAC table. The switch then forwards the frame to the interface where that destination address resides.
In transparent bridging, what occurs during the aging process?
Every time a bridge learns a source address, it time-stamps the entry. When the bridge sees a frame from this source, it updates the time stamp. If the bridge does not hear from the source for a specific amount of time (called the aging timer), the bridge deletes the entry from its MAC address table. This process is the aging process.
What is the default aging time in transparent bridges?
The default aging timer is 5 minutes.
What is the Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP)?
STP is a loop-prevention bridge-to-bridge protocol. Its main purpose is to dynamically maintain a loop-free network. It does this by sending out Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs), discovering any loops in the topology, and blocking one or more redundant links.
How does STP maintain a loop-free network?
STP maintains a loop-free network by
Electing a root bridge
Electing a root port on each nonroot bridge
Electing designated ports
Putting in the blocking state any port that is not a root port or designated port
In spanning tree, what is a Bridge ID (BID)?
A BID is an 8-byte field that is composed of the bridge's 6-byte MAC address and a 2-byte bridge priority.
What is the default bridge priority in a Bridge ID for all Cisco switches?
32,768
In spanning tree, what is path cost?
Path cost is a calculation to determine the link's bandwidth. It is a value assigned to each port that is based on the port's speed.
What is the spanning tree path cost for each of the following?
10 Mbps
100 Mbps
1 Gbps
The path costs are as follows:
10 Mbps - 100
100 Mbps - 19
1 Gbps - 4
When calculating a loop-free environment, what four-step decision sequence does spanning tree use to determine what will be the root bridge and which ports will forward or block?
The four-step decision sequence that spanning tree uses to determine the root bridge and which port will forward is as follows:
Step 1. The lowest root BID
Step 2. The lowest path cost to the root bridge
Step 3. The lowest sender BID
Step 4. The lowest port ID
How do bridges pass spanning tree information between themselves?
Bridges pass STP information using special frame called Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs).
How often do bridges send BPDUs out active ports?
The default time that bridges send BPDUs out active ports is 2 seconds.
Note: All ports on a switch listen for BPDUs in case there is a topology change.
In STP, how is a root bridge elected?
In STP, the bridge with the lowest BID is elected the root bridge. All ports on the root bridge are placed in the forwarding state and are called designated ports.
Note: The BID is a 6-byte field that is composed of a default priority (32,768) and a MAC address. Because all Cisco switches use the default priority, the switch with the lowest MAC address is elected the root bridge. As a rule of thumb, lower will always win in spanning tree.
After bridges elect the root bridge, what do they do next?
After electing the root bridge, switches elect root ports. A root port is the port on nonroot bridges that is closest to the root bridge. Every nonroot bridge must select one root port.
How do nonroot bridges decide which port they will elect as a root port?
Nonroot bridges use root path cost to determine which port will be the root port. Root path cost is the cumulative cost of all links to the root bridge. The port with the lowest root path cost is elected the bridge's root port and is placed in the forwarding state.
What is the difference between path cost and root path cost?
Path cost is the value assigned to each port. It is added to BPDUs received on that port to calculate the root path cost. Root path cost is defined as the cumulative cost to the root bridge. In a BPDU, this is the value transmitted in the cost field. In a bridge, this value is calculated by adding the receiving port's path cost to the value contained in the BPDU.
If a nonroot bridge has two redundant ports with the same root path cost, how does the bridge choose which port will be the root port?
If a nonroot bridge has redundant ports with the same root path cost, the deciding factor is the port with the lowest port ID (port number).