Ether Bridge


(ONS 15327 and ONS 15454 only) Use the Ether Bridge > Spanning Trees subtab to view and modify Ether Bridge spanning tree parameters. The ONS node operates Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) according to IEEE 802.1D when an Ethernet card is installed. The E-Series cards support common STPs on a per-circuit basis up to a total of eight STP instances. They do not support per-VLAN STP. In single-card mode, STP can be disabled or enabled on a per-circuit basis during circuit creation. Disabling STP will preserve the number of available STP instances. You can create Ethernet circuits from one E-Series Ethernet card to another in unstitched, point-to-point mode within a single node, but you cannot enable STP on these circuits.

STP operates over all packet-switched ports including Ethernet and OC-N ports. On Ethernet ports, STP is enabled by default but can be disabled. You can also disable or enable STP on a circuit-by-circuit basis on unstitched Ethernet cards in a point-to-point configuration. However, turning off STP protection on a circuit-by-circuit basis means that the ONS network is not protecting the Ethernet traffic on this circuit, and the Ethernet traffic must be protected by another mechanism in the Ethernet network. On OC-N interface ports, the ONS node activates STP by default, and STP cannot be disabled.

The Ethernet card can enable STP on the Ethernet ports to create redundant paths to the attached Ethernet equipment. STP connects cards so equipment and facilities are protected against failure.

Default STP parameters are appropriate for most situations. Contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (ONS TAC) before you change the default STP parameters.

Item

Description

#

Identifies the spanning tree number.

Priority

Sets the spanning tree priority. The range is 0 to 65535.

Bridge max age

Maximum time that received-protocol information is retained before it is discarded. The range is 6 to 40 seconds.

Bridge Hello Time

The time interval, in seconds, between the transmission of configuration bridge protocol data units (BPDUs) by a bridge that is the spanning tree root or is attempting to become the spanning tree root. The range is 1 to 10 seconds.

Bridge Forward Delay

Time spent by a port in the listening state and the learning state. The range is 4 to 30 seconds.

Apply

Applies changes made to the Spanning Trees subtab fields.

Reset

Cancels any Spanning Trees subtab changes and returns the fields to their last-saved settings.

Help

Displays context-sensitive help.