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stp not configured consistently across the network

kimlong
Level 1
Level 1

Our network is basically a star topology. There are 2 ways a building connects to the core.

Way #1:

The core switch has 1link each to 2 distribution switches in a buiding.

In the various buildings the distribution switches have single links up to

the switches on the floors. dist-a has a single link to floor-1a, dist-b has

a single link to floor -1b, etc. floor-1a and floor-1b are directly connected.

Repeat for floor-2a, 2b, etc. dist-a and dist-b are directly connected.

Way #2:

The core switch has a single link to a single distribution switch in a building closet.

The switches on the other floors are connected to the distribution

switch with a single link. No interconnections. Here there is a single point of failure at the distribution switch.

STP is not running consistently everywhere. On the core switch stp is running.

On the dist switches in 2 buildings it is running. It is not running on another

dist switch. In some cases stp is not running on vlan 1 but is running on

other vlans. It doesn't seem to matter if it is a location that has redundant connectivity or not

Things seem to be working fine. No weirdness. And part of me is thinking

if it's not broken don't fix it. But at the same time, it seems like consistency

would be a good thing.

Anyone have any thoughts on this one way or another? Any reasont NOT

to implement stp? Any suggestion as to how to approach documenting

things or a 'migration plan'?

Thanks in advance.

Disclaimer: I did not design this network, I only have to support it.

1 Reply 1

m.singer
Level 4
Level 4

Hi,

There are instances when there might be loops in the network due to STP failures. If things are working fine I don't really see a very good reason to change the configuration. However it would be a good idea to configure STP on the distribution switch as well and also ensure that it is consistent throughout the network. There is an entire support page available on STP:

http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/Support/browse/psp_view.pl?p=Internetworking:Spanning_Tree&viewall=true

This would help you with the documentation.

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