Chapter 3 Featured Functions For example, if the Delta switch is used as a key communications component of a production line, several minutes of downtime may cause a big loss in production and revenue. IMPORTANT : Make sure that you save the configuration in the Save Configuration page after you have applied the configuration changes. (Save Config Save Configuration) If you don’t save the configuration, then the configuration will be cleared after the switch is rebooted. 3.3.1 STP Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) provides a tree topology to help reduce link failure in a network, find one path between end devices and protect loops in the network.
Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) includes the calculation of information and it is used to negotiate between switches and establish STP. STP is a bridge based system and it defines 5 kinds of port statuses: blocking, listening, learning, forwarding and disabling. If the status of blocking changes to forwarding, STP needs to spend more than 30 seconds. Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) was defined by IEEE in 2001. RSTP provides faster tree convergence after a topology changes. Sometimes it only needs to spend a few hundred milliseconds. And RSTP can backward compatible with standard STP. Delta switch supports different protocols to support communication redundancy.
When configuring a redundant ring, all switches on the same ring must be configured to use the same redundant protocol. STP/RSTP can let you establish a redundant ring and protect the loop in a network. 3-41