802.1d & STP [was: Re: [plug] [OT] fear of posting]

[James Devenish]

In message <20040920070851.GD14755 at grail.lostrealm.com>
on Mon, Sep 20, 2004 at 03:08:51PM +0800, Leon Blackwell wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 20, 2004 at 03:00:45PM +0800, James Devenish wrote:
> > Is it part of Spanning Tree handling?
> Having never seen 802.1d before, I'm not sure if this is a normal thing
> to be seeing at this rate.  I don't mind the occasional packet, but one
> every few seconds is a little silly (especially since there are no other
> 802.1d capable routers on the network).

The hello time is probably configurable, although the "fast" rate
is probably sensible for an STP-enabled environment. STP is always
optional, so there should be a facility to disable it. I suppose it is
enabled by default for the benefit of preventing traffic storms that
arise from unintended traffic loops. If your network topology would not
benefit from the ongoing use of STP, or if none of your other devices
use it, then there is no problem disabling it.