On Sat, Jul 07, 2001 at 03:23:18PM -0700, Jim Warner wrote:
> | i don't see the point of running STP on any port that's attached to a single
> | host. i only run it for the ports connected to my routers, hubs, CSS, PIX,
> | trunks to other switches..
> |
> | am i missing something or is this kinda the dog chasing his tail?
>
> First, you need to know the effect of a topological loop if you
> don't have spanning tree. Our experience is that the switch
> completely locks up, using all its BW to feed the loop. If
> you've got a big L2 network, you'll be out there disconnecting
> jacks one at a time looking for the loop. "Portfast" and friends
> from other vendors will permit a loop to form as a transient and
> then clip it off.
there cannot be a spanning tree loop on a port connected to one host.
like i said, none of my trunks, routers, ports connected to hubs are running
portfast because i /do/ have redundant paths in my switching environment..
>
> At Universities, the switch ports are in the hands of our students.
> And our users will eventually hook everything together in all
> possible combinations -- as long as the connectors fit. And
> when we finally track down the student and ask them why they did
> it, we'll get some lame answer like "I didn't want to let the
> connector fall on the floor while I wasn't using one end so I
> plugged it into the spare wall jack."
oh, yeah, heh, i don't let college kids near my switches.. i'm assuming
that this is the case for the person who posed the original posit; obviously
the safe thing to do with all ports is to not run portfast on them until
you know for sure what's going to be connected to them (and it helps to have
some control over this)..
as for NSPs, the industry isn't /as/ full of clumsy college kids as it was
4 years ago.. although with some of the colo providers here in the bay area
it's hard to tell ;)
>
> Your intention that any particular port only goes to a "single host"
> can be blunted by a visit to the Microwarehouse catalog. Any user
> can show up with a repeater and go into the connectivity business.
then why do i pay exodus several thousand dollars a month to give me a
locked cage?
>
> Perhaps STP is like President Bush's hopes for his missle shield.
> It's not going to some some with real malice. But it's enough
> to deflect the clueless. [I am not making any claim about the
> relative merits of ABMs and STP -- except that I'm sure STP costs
> less.]
hey now, nothing like a few hundred billion in government construction
and rand contracts to.. uh.. oh, wait, i forgot, that doesnt boost the
economy! silly me..
>
> -jim
-- $Id: .sig,v 1.43 2001/04/07 18:00:44 noise Exp $ "It's a kind of love affair. If you spend half an hour making scrambled eggs in the morning for someone, then you really love them." -Chef Boulud
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