3Com 3824 Implementation Guide - Page 34

34 CHAPTER 4: USING RESILIENCE FEATURES Resilience Feature Overview Table 3 lists the key differences between each feature, so you can evaluate the benefits of each to determine which feature is most suitable for your network. Table 3 Spanning Tree Protocols - Key Differences Spanning Tree Protocol STP is disabled by default. User enables STP on each Switch. Automatic configuration. Up to 30 second delay on link failure to restoring a network connection. Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol RSTP is enabled by default. Automatic configuration. Within 5 seconds restores a network connection. 3Com recommends that you use the Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol feature (default enabled) to provide optimum performance for your network and ease of use. The Switch also supports aggregated links which increase bandwidth and also provide resilience against individual link failure. Aggregated links will operate with STP enabled. For more information, see Aggregated Links on page 19. Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) makes your network more resilient to link failure and also provides a protection from loops - one of the major causes of broadcast storms. STP is enabled by default on your Switch. To be fully effective, STP must be enabled on all Switches in your network. RSTP provides the same functionality as STP. For details on how the two systems differ, see "How RSTP Differs to STP" on page 39. The following sections explain more about STP and the protocol features supported by your Switch. They cover the following topics: ■ What is STP? ■ How STP Works ■ Using STP on a Network with Multiple VLANs