Networking Technology

NET 272 Lab Exercise

Advanced STP – RSTP+, RSTP, MST
Objectives
This lab provides experience in configuring and monitoring advanced STP features.
 Configuration and operation of RTSTP+ and modifying individual VLAN STP
parameters
 Configuration and operation of RSTP
 Configuration and operation of MST and modifying instance parameters

Preparation
Instructor discussion on the implementation and configuration of the network.

Required Equipment
ETB 225 lab network
(3) Cisco IOS switches per group of students

ETB225 lab has the following IOS switches:

 (4) 6500 Multi-layer switches
 (6) 3560 Multi-layer switches, 2 with POE
 (6) 2960 Layer 2 switches
 (3) 3500 Series XL Layer 2 switches
 (5) 2900 Series XL Layer 2 switches

Procedure
This lab has little instruction on how to accomplish the tasks. Use initiative in
accomplishing the lab. Look up the appropriate commands from the course content or
Cisco documentation. Different versions of IOS and Switch models may use slightly
different commands. Feel free to get assistance from other students and the instructor.

Part 1. Connect Switched Network and Configure VLAN operation

The instructor may tell you which switches to use.

1. Connect the network shown in the diagram below. A larger version is attached at the back of
the lab for convenience in labeling. For SW1 and SW2 use 3560 or 2960 switches, for SW3
use a 2960 switch. Use 100 Mbps Ethernet ports for all connections. The PC connected to
the hub is for Wireshark monitoring only.

Assign addresses to the network elements. There will be five subnets: Management and
VLAN 10, 20, 30, and 40. Select appropriate IP subnets using /24 masks. The switches
default VLAN will be the management subnet. Each switch will require an address.

Subnets PC assignments:
VLAN 10: PC1, PC5

Page 1 of 5
 Advanced STP – PVST+, RSTP, MST

VLAN 20: PC2, PC7

VLAN 30: PC3, PC6
VLAN 40: PC4, PC8

Note: the 3560 switches may require the ports be converted to “switchport” mode before
operating as an L2 switch.

2. Verify the VLAN configuration is clean. If not delete VLAN.dat and clean the
configuration. Configure the management IP addresses on each switch.

PC6 PC7

HUB

PC5 SW1 SW2 PC8

SW3

PC1 PC4

PC2 PC3

Page 2 of 5
 Advanced STP – PVST+, RSTP, MST

3. Configure the network with the five VLANs described above. Do not configure VTP.
Configure all trunks to use 802.1q trunking. Configure one end of each trunk for auto and
the other for dynamic-desirable and let the trunks negotiate the state. Note the duplex and
speed requirements for the trunk connected to the hub.

4. Verify proper operation of the switches and all VLANs.

Part 2. PVST+ Operation

1. Verify STP with the show spanning-tree command on each switch. Notice a spanning
tree instance for each VLAN.

2. Verify with appropriate commands which switch is the root switch for each VLAN and
which ports are in blocking and forwarding states. The default behavior has the same root
switch and port behavior for all VLANs.

3. Change the switch priority so that SW1 is the root switch for VLANs 1, 10 and 20, and SW2
is the root switch for VLANs 30 and 40. Use the spanning-tree vlan number priority
number command.

4. Use the show spanning-tree command to verify the change in root bridge and port
operation for the VLANs.

5. Using Wireshark, capture BPDUs and note that the BPDUs are sent for each VLAN using the
802.1q tag (if the tags can be seen on the PC).

Part 3. IEEE 802.1w Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) Operation

1. Change the spanning tree mode to rapid spanning tree, using the global configuration
command spanning-tree mode rapid-pvst. Configure this on all four switches. During
the transition period, rapid spanning tree falls back to regular spanning tree on the links that
have regular spanning tree on one side.

2. Change the port type on all access ports (connected to PCs) to Edge (mode host).

3. Use the show spanning-tree command to verify the link types on all links. The link type
on the trunk connected to the hub may have to be changed to pt-pt. It will default to shared
because of the hub and half-duplex operation.

4. Note all the information available from show spanning-tree about port types, link types,
port roles and states. The terminology is different from the original STP.

5. Using Wireshark, capture the spanning tree BPDUs and note the difference in information in
the packets. Note there are BPDUs for each VLAN on the trunk. This is because of the per-
VLAN STP behavior.

Page 3 of 5
 Advanced STP – PVST+, RSTP, MST

6. Disconnect and reconnect a workstation and note the behavior of the port state and BPDUs.
The port changing state change didn’t cause any topology change information to be sent and
returned to forwarding state immediately.

7. Disconnect the two links between SW1 and SW2 while observing the states in both switches.
The switches non-root ports should immediately recover and switch to become the root port
via SW3. This is because backbone fast is operational in RSTP.

8. Reconnect the two links and note the packet flow on Wireshark that occurs. An explicit
proposal and agreement takes place to recover the root more quickly for each VLAN.

Part 4. 802.1s Multiple Spanning Tree (MST) Configuration and Operation

1. To configure MST, first use the global configuration command spanning-tree mode mst
on all switches.

2. By default, all VLANs are assigned to instance 0, but can be moved around to different
instances when MST is configured. Issue the show spanning-tree command and observe
that there is only one spanning tree (instance 0) coming up. Also notice that the mode is
listed as MSTP.

3. Use the show spanning-tree mst configuration command to see a switch’s current
MST configuration.

4. Complete the MST configuration. Use the region name CISCO and a revision number of 1.
Put VLANs 10 and 20 into instance 1, and 30 and 40 into instance 2. Any remaining VLANs
remain in instance 0, the default.

Before applying the changes, verify the changes you are about to make with the show
pending command. The changes that you just entered are not committed until you type
exit. If you do not like the changes you made, you can leave the prompt without committing
them by typing abort. Notice the difference between show current and show pending
before you apply the changes.

5. Verify the configuration after the changes are applied. Verify that there are instances of
spanning tree for each MST instance. Note the root switch for each instance and the state
and role of the ports.

6. Modify bridge priorities to make SW1 the root for instance 1 and SW2 the root for instance
2. Verify the results of the changes.

Part 5. Document and Restore the Network.

1. Document as appropriate the network topology, configuration, and results for use in your lab
report. Put all files in the Folder on Server02 designated by your instructor.

Page 4 of 5
 Advanced STP – PVST+, RSTP, MST

2. Restore the router default configurations by copying the “default” file to startup, and the
workstations to DHCP. Disconnect the network, put away all cables and adapters, and
restore the network configuration to the default topology.

Lab Report

1. Describe the configuration and operation of the basic network. Document your
configurations and results.
2. Explain the results for each portion of the lab.

PC8
SW2

PC4
SW3
PC7

PC3
HUB

PC2
SW1

PC1
PC6

PC5

Page 5 of 5