Let me start by saying that there are still many network administrators out there who consider the words “Spanning Tree” to be evil. This stems from the fact that many networks were first segmented using bridges, and this is where Spanning Tree got its start. The main problem is that just like anything else; Spanning Tree doesn’t work by magic. When a network is designed with redundancy and a link fails, it takes time to figure everything out and get back up to date – a process referred to as convergence. When a network using Spanning Tree does experience a failure, it can take anywhere between 30 seconds to over a minute for the network to converge. On a less-than-reliable large network, this can cause just as many headaches as it solves. To that end, many network administrators stopped using Spanning Tree and instead designed their networks loop-free, deciding that the lack of redundancy was better than dealing with convergence issues. In fact, once routing became a popular way to segment a network, many folks thought they had seen the end of Spanning Tree.
That was of course until Layer 2 switching became popular, reintroducing the need for the Spanning Tree Protocol on networks. The good news is that in the meantime, networks and equipment have gotten much more reliable. In that way, Spanning Tree isn’t nearly as painful as it once might have been, although the protocol itself still works in the same way it used to.
Spanning Tree isn’t nearly as difficult as most people make it out to be. At the most basic level, Spanning Tree’s job is to eliminate loops in a bridged or switched network that are caused by redundant paths. It does this by learning the topology of the network, and then selectively blocking ports to eliminate any loops. This is where the ‘tree’ part comes in. Instead of a network with loops, with Spanning Tree what you end up with is a tree-like structure of branches. When a failure occurs, Spanning Tree recalculates the topology, and makes use of the redundant path. If you keep this in mind as you’re trying to understand the protocol, you’ll really find that Spanning Tree isn’t that complex.
Tip: Spanning Tree’s main purpose is eliminate loops caused by redundant links on switched or bridged networks.
On most switches, Spanning Tree is turned on by default, mainly to help save you from yourself. You might accidentally introduce a loop to your network without really thinking about it when adding new equipment. To that end, Spanning Tree can also be turned off; although you’ll want to be sure that you really understand your network connections before doing that. By default, an instance of Spanning Tree runs on each VLAN that you’ve configured, although it can be turned off on a per-VLAN or global basis. When turned on, a switch using 802.1d will communicate with other switches using Spanning Tree to calculate its configuration. A Spanning Tree port can be in one of four states. These include:
- Listening. In this state, a port is listening to Spanning Tree messages (BPDUs) and attempting to figure out how the network is configured.
- Learning. In this state, a port is adding addresses to its MAC table, but not yet forwarding frames.
- Forwarding. When in this state, a port is sending and receiving data as normal. During normal operation, a port will be in either a forwarding or a blocking state.
- Blocking. When in this state, a port will neither send nor receive data, but will listen to network messages relating to Spanning Tree. By default, all ports are in blocking mode when a switch is first powered on.
So how is the state of a port decided? Well, messages are passed between bridges or switches that are referred to as Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs). BPDUs are very small frames sent using multicasts to let other switches now about the network topology with respect to Spanning Tree. We’ll reference BPDUs often as we look at how the Spanning Tree topology is built.
