Spanning Tree Protocol

Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is enabled by default on RUCKUS Layer 2 switches. Also by default, each port-based VLAN has a separate instance of STP. When STP is globally enabled, each port-based VLAN on the device runs a separate spanning tree.

You can enable or disable STP on the following levels:

• Globally: Applies to all ports on the device.
  Note: If you configure a port-based VLAN on the device, the VLAN has the same STP state as the default STP state on the device. Therefore, on Layer 2 switches, new VLANs have STP enabled by default. In addition, you can enable or disable STP on individual ports.
• Port-based VLAN: Applies to all ports within the specified port-based VLAN.

STP is a Layer 2 protocol. The STP state of a port-based VLAN determines the STP state for all the Layer 2 broadcasts within the port-based VLAN. This is true even though Layer 3 protocol broadcasts are sent on Layer 2 within the VLAN.

If you enable Single STP (SSTP) on the device, the ports in all VLANs on which STP is enabled become members of a single spanning tree. The ports in VLANs on which STP is disabled are excluded from the single spanning tree.

For more information, refer to Spanning Tree Protocol.