Home > Articles > Cisco Certification > CCIE > CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide

CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide

  • Sample Chapter is provided courtesy of Cisco Press.
  • Date: Aug 16, 2002.

Chapter Description

Prepare for the CCIE Routing and Switching Exam with this excellent study resource. Review such topics as MAC address format, VLAN trunking, transparent bridge functions, and much more.

Transparent Bridging (TB)

This section covers bridging between Ethernet networks, STP, CRB, and IRB.

Bridges and STP

Ethernet bridging occurs in the data-link layer of the OSI model. Switches perform the same function as bridges. For the rest of the chapter, the term switches refers to bridges. Bridges (and switches) forward frames from one interface to another based on the destination MAC address. For any incoming frame, bridges forward the frame out a specific port, if the destination MAC address is known, or it is flooded out all ports if the MAC address is unknown. If the destination MAC is unknown, the bridges forward the frame out all ports. This is known as flooding. Bridges have three primary functions:

  • To learn the MAC addresses of all nodes and their associated port

  • To filter incoming frames whose destination MAC addresses are located on the same incoming port

  • To forward incoming frames to the destination MAC through their associated port

Bridges keep a bridge table to track the MAC addresses available out each port.

An example of the table on a Catalyst switch is shown in Example 4-3. The switch creates a table that lists the MAC address and port for the stations. For example, the station with MAC address 00-10-7b-80-ba-d5 is located out port 2/10. This MAC table was created dynamically.

Example 4-3 Bridge MAC Table

cat5000: show cam dynamic
VLAN  Dest MAC/Route Des  Destination Ports or VCs / [Protocol Type]
----  ------------------  --------------------------------------------
710   <Anchor3>00-10-7b-80-ba-d5   2/10 [ALL]
34    00-10-7b-1b-6f-9c   2/3 [ALL]
59    00-10-7b-7e-cc-c3   2/5 [ALL]
59    00-e0-b0-64-6e-47   2/9 [ALL]
1     00-e0-b0-64-6e-49   2/12 [ALL]
1     00-10-7b-7e-cc-cd   2/11 [ALL]
710   00-e0-b0-64-6e-07   2/7 [ALL]
34    00-50-3e-e4-58-59   2/4 [ALL]
Total Matching CAM Entries Displayed = 8

Routers can also be configured to bridge protocols. By default, if bridging is configured on an interface, the router bridges any protocol that is not routed on that interface.

The configuration in Example 4-4 bridges between Ethernet 1 and Ethernet 0. Bridge group 1 is configured for the IEEE STP with the bridge 1 protocol ieee command. Each interface is configured to bridge with the bridge-group 1 command.

Example 4-4 Configuration of Bridge Between Ethernet 0 and Ethernet 1

bridge 1 protocol ieee
!
interface ethernet 0
  bridge-group 1
!
interface ethernet 1
 bridge-group 1

Transparent Bridge Modes

Bridges and switches can operate in two basic modes: store-and-forward and cut-through. The legacy mode is store-and-forward. The bridge stores the entire frame and verifies the CRC before forwarding the frame. If a CRC error is detected, the frame is discarded.

With the evolution of bridges and switches with fast integrated circuits, a new mode of operation is usually available: cut-through. In this mode, the switch does not wait for the entire frame to enter its buffer; instead, it forwards the frame just after it reads the destination MAC address. The advantage is that the switching operation is faster. The disadvantage is that the cut-through operation does not check for CRC errors, which increases the amount of runt and error frames on the network. Because of this problem, most switches provide the option to switch the mode back to store-and-forward if an error threshold is met. Switches in cut-through can track the CRC errors of forwarded frames to determine if there are too many errors. Other switches implement modified cut-through, which waits to receive 64 bytes before it begins transmission, which prevents the switch from sending runt frames.

STP

When multiple bridges connect the same LAN segments, bridge loops can occur. The STP is a Layer-2 link management protocol that discovers a loop free topology for connectivity between LANs. As shown in Figure 4-16, STP might place some redundant bridged interfaces in a blocked state. STP provides recovery from bridge failures by changing blocked interfaces to a forwarding state, if a primary link fails. Although a DEC and IBM version are available, the IEEE 802.1d standard is the default protocol.

Figure 4-16Figure 4-16 STP

Root Bridge Election

A root bridge is elected as the root of the spanning-tree topology. All ports that are not needed to reach the root bridge are placed in blocking mode. The selection of the root bridge is based on the lowest numerical bridge priority. The bridge priority ranges from 0 to 65535. If all bridges have the same bridge priority, the bridge with the lowest MAC address is selected as the root. Physical changes of the network force spanning-tree recalculation.

The router interface priority can be changed with the priority keyword, with priority values ranging from 1 to 255:

R4(config-if)#bridge-group 1 priority ?
  <0-255>

Bridge Identifier (BID) and Path Costs

As shown in Figure 4-17, the BID is 8 bytes long and contains a bridge priority (2 bytes), along with one of the bridge's MAC addresses (6 bytes). With 2 bytes, the priority values range from 0 to 65,535. The default priority is 32,768.

Figure 4-17Figure 4-17 BID Format

Each port is assigned a Port ID. Port IDs are 16 bits long and consist of two parts: a 6-bit priority setting and a 10-bit port number.

A path cost value is assigned to each port. The costs are accumulated to determine the total cost to reach the root. According to the original specification in 802.1d, cost is calculated by dividing 1000 Mbps (1 gigabit per second) by the bandwidth (in megabits per second) of the segment connected to the port. Using this formula, a 100 Mbps connection has a cost of 10 (1000 / 100 = 10). To accommodate higher speeds, such as GE, the IEEE adopted new values. Table 4-8 shows the revised path costs for STP.

Table 4-8 STP Path Costs

Bandwidth

STP Cost Value

4 Mbps

250

10 Mbps

100

16 Mbps

62

45 Mbps

39

100 Mbps

19

155 Mbps

14

622 Mbps

6

1 Gbps

4

10 Gbps

2


Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU)

Transparent bridges performing STP communicate by exchanging BPDUs. BPDU packets contain information on ports, addresses, priorities and costs. Bridges do not forward received BPDUs, instead the information generates new BPDUs.

The BPDU contains the following information:

  • Root BID—The BID of the bridge that the transmitting bridge believes to be the root bridge.

  • Path Cost—The cost of the path to reach the root bridge. If the segment is attached to the root bridge, it has a cost of 0. For example, if the data has to travel over three 10 Mbps segments to reach the root bridge, the cost is 200 (100 + 100 + 0).

  • Sender BID—The BID of the bridge that sent this BPDU.

  • Port ID—The port ID on the bridge that sent this BPDU.

NOTE

BPDU destination addresses use the bridge group multicast MAC address 01-80-C2-00-00-00. These frames are copied by bridges but ignored by all other stations.

BPDU Types

The two types of a BPDU follow:

  • Configuration BPDU

  • Topology Change Notification (TCN) BPDU

Configuration BPDUs are sent from the root bridge with the root BID. The configuration BPDUs flow through all active paths, which provides the root BID and path cost information. The TCN BPDUs flow upstream to the root bridge to alert it of a topology change. The spanning-tree algorithm is recalculated by the bridges to determine any necessary changes in the path. After the network converges, no TCN BPDUs are present in the network.

Bridge Port States

Each port of a transparent bridge exists in the following states:

  • Disabled—The port is inactive and does not participate in STP.

  • Blocking—When a port is enabled, it first moves to the blocked state before listening to the network. In this state, it does not participate in frame forwarding. It receives bridge PDUs and sends them to the STP algorithm for processing.

  • Listening—When the bridge determines that the port should participate in frame forwarding, it changes to the listening state. In this state, the bridge does not forward frames and does not learn of network MAC addresses. The bridge does receive and process BPDUs and network management frames, but it does not send BPDUs.

  • Learning—The bridge port discards incoming frames. The bridge begins to add MAC addresses associated with this port into the table. BPDU and network management messages are processed. The bridge processes, generates, and sends BPDUs in this state.

  • Forwarding—The full functional state for a bridged port. In this state, the bridge does not discard incoming frames. The bridge forwards frames to other ports; the bridge also forwards frames out this port. BPDUs and network management frames are processed.

Designated Ports

If connected with more than one port to the same segment, bridges select a designated port. The designated port is the port that sends and receives frames on the segment; other ports are placed in the blocking state (nondesignated ports).

Multi-Instance Spanning-Tree Protocol (MISTP)

Each VLAN configured in a switch runs an independent instance of the STP. MISTP is a proprietary spanning-tree mode in Cisco switches, which allows the grouping of multiple VLANs under a single instance of the STP. The MISTP instance has its own root switch and forwarding ports. When VLANs are mapped into a MISTP instance, it reduces the number of BPDUs because only MISTP BPDUs are sent between the switches configured for MISTP, which allows STP to scale to larger networks such as MANs.

CRB

CRB, introduced in IOS 11.0, enables the administrator to both route and bridge the same protocol on separate interfaces. With CRB, the routed traffic is confined to the routed interfaces, and bridged traffic is confined to the interfaces configured with bridge groups. Prior to CRB, routers could only bridge or route the same protocol—but not both.

As shown in Figure 4-18, IP traffic is routed on Ethernet interfaces 0 and 1 and concurrently bridged between Ethernet interfaces 2 and 3.

Figure 4-18Figure 4-18 CRB

The router configuration is displayed in Example 4-5.

Example 4-5 Configuration Example of CRB

bridge 1 protocol ieee
bridge crb
!
interface ethernet 0
 ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface ethernet 1
 ip address 192.168.2.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface ethernet 2
 bridge-group 1
 no ip address
!
interface ethernet 3
 bridge-group 1
 no ip address

CRB is enabled with the bridge crb global command. The decision to route or bridge is in the hands of the transparent bridge group, with the bridge number route ip command, which configures IP to be routed in a bridge group.

The show interfaces crb command shows information about which protocols are routed and which are bridged.

IRB

IRB was introduced in IOS 11.2 as an enhancement to CRB. With IRB, a protocol can be routed between routed interfaces, bridged interfaces, or different bridge groups. As shown in Figure 4-19, this permits routing of IP from routed interfaces to bridged interfaces.

Figure 4-19Figure 4-19 IRB

IRB is enabled with the bridge irb global configuration command. A virtual IRB interface is created to have packets from the routed interfaces reach hosts in the bridge interfaces. The command to create the virtual bridge interface is interface bvi bridge-group.

The router configuration is shown in Example 4-6. In this example, the virtual bridge interface is created for Bridge group 1 with the interface bvi 1 command. IRB is enabled with the bridge irb command. With the bridge 1 route ip command, IP is routed between Ethernet 0, Ethernet 1, and the BVI interface; IP is bridged between Ethernet 2 and Ethernet 3.

Example 4-6 Configuration of IRB

bridge 1 protocol ieee
bridge irb
bridge 1 route ip
!
interface ethernet 0
 ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface ethernet 1
 ip address 192.168.2.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface ethernet 2
 bridge-group 1
 no ip address
!
interface ethernet 3
 bridge-group 1
 no ip address
!
interface bvi 1
 ip address 192.168.3.1 255.255.255.0

The show interface irb displays information about the IRB interface.

Cisco Press Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Cisco Press and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview

Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Cisco Press products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information

To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@ciscopress.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information

Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security

Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children

This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing

Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information

If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out

Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Cisco Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.ciscopress.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information

Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents

California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure

Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links

This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact

Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020