What is the use of STP

[highs008]

Why should I use STP when I can use redundant paths and use greater bandwidth at the same time?

[ciscomoderator]

The focus of this board is Virtual Private Networks, however, there are a number of professionals online who may be able to assist you. We are always considering additional forums for such topics and I will make a note of your post.

If you don't get a suitable response to your post, you may wish to speak with a design engineer at your local Cisco office or reseller. You can locate your local Cisco representative from this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/servpro/contact.html

If anyone else in the forum has some advice, please reply to this thread.

Thank you for posting.

[csteinmetz]

To prevent severe network downtime related to broadcast storms.

Redundant paths without STP can cause endless routing loops. I.E. Your routers may continually update the routing tables as they will continually discover "new paths".

[cchaithanya]

Yes, it is definetly desirable to use the redundant paths for greater bandwidth.But in case of, routing loops it would consume your bandwidth very badly and your network may reach 100% utilization with in no time. To avoid that it is advisable to enable STP.

Usage of spanning tree also depends upon the size of your network.

[mmattoon]

Your on the right track. You can use your redundant paths to help optimize network throughput. The key is that you need Spanning Tree, (STP) to prevent bridge loops. With redundant links and no STP a broadcast would become a broadcast storm looping infinately through your network. Setup correctly you can load balance by tweaking STP parameters. VLANS are seperate each representing a network that is bridged throughout your switched network.