Enable Transparent

This option enables transparent bridging function on the given port.

Enter the port number that you want to have transparent bridging on.

Select the Submit button.


Enable Tree

This option enables spanning tree protocol (STP) participation for the bridge on a per-port basis.

Enter the port number.

Select the Submit button.


List Address

This option reads the specified address entry from the permanent database.

Enter the MAC Address.

The MAC address is the address of the desired entry. It can be an individual address, multicast address, or broadcast address. Permanent database es are not destroyed by the power off/on process and are immune to the aging settings. Permanent entries cannot be replaced by dynamic entries.

Valid Values: X'0000 0000 0000' to X'FFFF FFFF FFFF'

Default Value: none

Select the Submit button.

The results of the command give the following information:

Entry Type
Permanent
Indicates that the entry is permanent in nature and will survive power on/offs or system resets.

Reserved
Indicates that the entry is reserved by the IEEE 802.1d committee for future use. Frames destined to reserved addresses are discarded.

Registered
Indicates that the entry is meant for the bridge itself.

SAF
Appears after the entry type if source address filtering has been configured.

Input Port
Displays the numbers of the input port or ports associated with that address entry.

Output Port
Displays the numbers of the output port or ports associated with that address entry. Displays "NONE/DAF" to indicate that destination address filtering applies because no ports have been selected to be associated with that address entry.


List Port

This option displays port information related to ports that are already configured. Port Number selects the port that you want to list.

Enter the port number.

Note: Specifying no number selects all ports.

Select the Submit button.

The results of the command give the following information:

Port ID
The ID consists of two parts: the port priority and the port number. The two parts are separated by a colon. Reading from left to right, the first number represents the priority and the second number represents the port number. The number after the comma is the hexadecimal version of the first two numbers. For example, 128:05 is decimal priority 128 and port number 5; 80:05 is hexadecimal priority 80 and port number 5.

Port state
Displays current state of the specified port or ports. This can be either Enabled or Disabled.

Port supports
Displays bridging method supported by that port (for example, transparent bridging, source route bridging).

SRB
Displayed only when SRB is enabled; it lists source route bridging information. This includes the SRB segment number (in hex), the Maximum Transmission Unit size, and whether the transmission of spanning tree explorer frames is enabled or disabled.

Duplicate Frames Allowed
Displays a breakdown and count of the types of duplicate frames allowed.

Assoc interface
Displays interface number associated with the displayed port.

Path Cost
Cost associated with the port which is used for possible root path cost. The range is 1 to 65535.

List Prot-Filter

This option reads a current list of the filter protocol types. Filters can be listed selectively by port or all ports can be displayed at once.

Enter the Port Number of the bridge port that you want to list.

Note: Specifying no number selects all ports.

Select the Submit button.

The results of the command give the following information:

Port Number
Port number is displayed for each port if all ports are selected to be displayed.

Protocol Class
Displays protocol class: SNAP, Ether, or DSAP.

Protocol Type
Displays protocol ID in hexadecimal format.

Protocol State
Denotes that the protocol is being filtered for the selected port.

Port Map
Displays the numbers of the ports where this type of protocol filter is present.

List Range

This option displays a range of address entries from the permanent database. To do this, first determine the size of the database by using the List Permanent option. From this value you can then determine a "start index" value for your entry range.

Enter the start index in the range from 1 to the size of the database.

Enter the stop index to display a limited number of entries. This input is optional.

If the stop index is not provided, the default value is the size of the database.

Select the Submit button.

Address entries contain the following information:

Address
6-byte MAC address of the entry.

Type of Entry
Specifies one of the following types:

Reserved
Entries reserved by the IEEE 802.1d committee

Registered
Entries consist of unicast addresses belonging to proprietary communications hardware attached to the box or multicast addresses enabled by protocol forwarders

Permanent
Entries entered by the user in the configuration process which survive power on/offs or system resets

Static
Entries entered by the user in the console process which do not survive power on/offs or system resets and are ageless

Dynamic
Entries "learned" by the bridge "dynamically" which do not survive power on/offs or system resets and which have an "age" associated with the entry

Free
Locations in database that are free to be filled by address entries

Port Map
Displays outgoing port map for all incoming ports.

Set Age

This parameter specifies the number of seconds that a dynamic entry can remain in the filtering database without the transparent bridge observing any activity from that address. When the age of an entry equals the aging time, the bridge deletes the entry from the filtering database.

The bridge generates dynamic entries for the filtering database by observing the source addresses of the frames it receives on each of its ports. The database associates the source address of the sending device with the port through which it can be reached. In this way, the bridge "learns" about the location of specific devices in the network.

This age is also used for aging Routing Information Field (RIF) entries in the RIF table in the case of an SR-TB bridge personality.

  1. Enter a aging time value in seconds.

    Valid Values: 10 to 1000000 seconds

    Default Value: 300

  2. Enter a resolution value.

    This value specifies how often dynamic entries in the filtering database should be scanned to determine if they have expired their age limit as set by the aging timer.

    Valid Values: 1 to 60 seconds

    Default Value: 5 seconds

Select the Submit button.


Set Bridge SRB Address

This option sets the bridge address for the source route bridging (SRB) bridge. This is the low-order 6-octet bridge address found in the bridge identifier. By default, this address is set to the medium access control (MAC) address of the lowest-numbered port at initialization time. You can use this option to override the use of the default address and enter your own unique address.

Note: Each bridge in the network must have a unique address for the spanning tree protocol to operate properly.

In cases where a tunnel is the lowest numbered port, it is mandatory to use this option so that the bridge will have a unique address when restarted. This process is necessary because tunnels do not have their own MAC addresses.

Enter the bridge address in 12-digit hexadecimal format. Do not use dashes or colons to separate each octet.

Valid Values: 12 hexadecimal numbers

Do not use dashes or colons to separate each octet. Each bridge in the network must have a unique address for the spanning tree protocol to operate properly.

Default Value: 0

If you enter the address in the wrong format you will receive the message Illegal Address. If you enter no address at the prompt, you will receive the message Zero length address supplied and the bridge address will maintain its previous value. To return the bridge address to the default value, enter an address of all zeroes.

Select the Submit button.


Set Bridge TB Address

This option sets the bridge address for the transparent bridging (TB) bridge. This is the low-order 6-octet bridge address found in the bridge identifier. By default, this address is set to the medium access control (MAC) address of the lowest-numbered port at initialization time. You can use this option to override the use of the default address and enter your own unique address.

Note: Each bridge in the network must have a unique address for the spanning tree protocol to operate properly.

In cases where a tunnel is the lowest numbered port, it is mandatory to use this option so that the bridge will have a unique address when restarted. This process is necessary because tunnels do not have their own MAC addresses.

At the prompt, enter the bridge address in 12-digit hexadecimal format. Do not use dashes or colons to separate each octet.

Valid Values: 12 hexadecimal numbers

Do not use dashes or colons to separate each octet. Each bridge in the network must have a unique address for the spanning tree protocol to operate properly.

Default Value: 0

If you enter the address in the wrong format you will receive the message Illegal Address. If you enter no address at the prompt you will receive the message Zero length address supplied and the bridge address will maintain its previous value. To return the bridge address to the default value, enter an address of all zeroes.

Select the Submit button.


Set Filtering

This option sets the number of entries that can be held in the bridge filtering database. Use the ASRT List Filtering option to see the filtering database entries that exist in the current configuration.

Enter the Database size.

Default Value: 1024 times the number of bridge ports.

Select the Submit button.


Set Maximum Packet Size

This option sets the largest MAC service data unit (MSDU) size for the port, if source routing is enabled on this port. The MSDU value setting has no implication on traditionally transparent media. An MSDU value greater than the packet size configured in the router will be treated as an error.

  1. Enter the port number.

  2. Enter the Maximum packet size.

    Valid Values: Specify an integer in the range [16...65535]

    Default Value: packet size set for the port

Select the Submit button.


Set Port Block

This option begins the port's participation in the spanning tree protocol by entering a status of "block." This places the port in the "blocked" state as a starting point. The actual state of the port will later be determined by the spanning tree protocol as it determines its topology.

Enter the port number.

Select the Submit button.


Set Port Disable

This option Sets the port to "disable" state.

Entering the "disable" state removes the port from participating in the spanning tree.

Enter the port number to remove the port from participating in the spanning tree.

Select the Submit button.


Set Protocol Bridge SRB

This option modifies the spanning tree protocol bridge or port parameters for a new configuration, or tunes the configuration parameters to suit a specific topology.

This option specifies that the source routing bridge (SRB) protocol parameters are to be affected.

When setting these values, make sure that the following relationships exist between the parameters or the input will be rejected:


2 X (Bridge Forward Delay - 1 second) >= Bridge Maximum Age

Bridge Maximum Age >= 2 X (Bridge Hello Time  + 1 second)

Sample input:


            Bridge Max-Age  25

            Bridge Hello Time  3

            Bridge Forward Delay  20

            Bridge Priority   1

  1. Enter the Bridge Maximum Age.

    This maximum age (period of time) that should be used to time out spanning tree protocol related information.

    When this bridging router is selected as the root bridge in a spanning tree, the value of this parameter specifies how long other active bridges are to store the configuration bridge protocol data units (BPDUs) they receive. When a BPDU reaches its maximum age limit without being replaced, the active bridges in the network discard it and assume that the root bridge has failed. A new root bridge is then selected.

    Dependencies

    The setting of this parameter may be affected by the setting of the Bridge Hello Time parameter. In addition, the setting of this parameter may affect the setting of the Bridge Forward Delay parameter.

    Valid Values: 6 to 40 seconds

    Default Value: 20 seconds

  2. Enter the Bridge Hello Time value.

    This value is the time interval between HELLO BPDUs.

    When this bridging router is selected as the root bridge in a spanning tree, this parameter specifies how often this bridge transmits configuration bridge protocol data units (BPDUs). BPDUs contain information about the topology of the spanning tree and reflect changes to the topology.

    Dependencies

    The setting of this parameter may affect the setting of the Max age parameter.

    Valid Values: 1 to 10 seconds

    Default Value: 2 seconds

  3. Bridge Forward Delay. This value is the time interval used before changing to another state (should this bridge become the root).

    When this bridging router is selected as the root bridge in a spanning tree, the value of this parameter specifies how long active ports in all bridges remain in a listening state. When the forward delay time expires, ports in the listening state go into the forwarding state. State changes occur as a result of changes in the topology of the spanning tree, such as when an active bridge fails or is shut down.

    The root bridge conveys this value to all bridges. This process ensures that all bridges are consistent between changes.

    Dependencies

    The setting of this parameter may be affected by the setting of the SRB Bridge Max Age parameter.

    Valid Values: 4 to 30 seconds

    Default Value: 15

  4. Bridge Priority

    This value is a high-order 2-octet bridge address found in the Bridge Identifier - either the MAC address obtained from the lowest-numbered port or the address set by the Set Bridge option.

    This parameter is the most significant 2-octet part of the bridge identifier. The bridge identifier consists of two parts: a least significant 6-octet bridge address and the most significant 2-octet bridge priority.

    The bridge priority indicates the chances that this bridge will become the root bridge of the spanning tree. The lower the numerical value of the bridge priority parameter, the higher the priority of the bridge and the more likely it is to be chosen. The spanning tree algorithm chooses the bridge with the lowest numerical value of this parameter to be the root bridge.

    This parameter is the high-order, 2-octet bridge address found in the Bridge Identifier for this bridging router - either the MAC address obtained from the lowest number port, or the address set by the SRB Bridge Address parameter. The value of this parameter specifies the priority of this bridging router. When this bridging router is activated by the network administrator, its priority value is compared to the priority values of other active bridges in the network. The bridge with the highest priority becomes the root bridge of the spanning tree.

    Valid Values: 0 to 65535

    Default Value: 32768

Select the Submit button.