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Spanning Tree

October 18, 2011 |

The Spanning Tree protocol checks an Ethernet network to make sure there aren't any loops among switches. Loops would be bad because a packet caught in one would just circulate until it reached its time of expiration, never reaching its destination.

Spanning Tree is an old protocol, one that's criticized nowadays not only because it takes a long time to compute, but because it doesn't always figure out the best paths between switches. Engineers have started looking into other options, such as Shortest Path Bridging and Trill.



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