XG700 User's Guide
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All Rights Reserved, Copyright (C) PFU LIMITED 2005-2006
4.6 Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is a function that prevents loops from occurring on a network. It is also possible to provide
network redundancy by intentionally creating a loop.
STP exclusively uses only one active path between network devices, and shuts out other paths, to avoid network loops. An
active path is selected by comparing path costs defined on each path. After the comparison, the lowest cost path will be
selected. If the selected path becomes disabled, STP will activate the lowest cost path among the paths remaining.
The XG700 supports IEEE802.1w RSTP (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol). The RSTP is upward compatible with IEEE802.1D
STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) and serves as an STP if the destination device supports the STP only.