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Network Design and Implementation Flashcards

7 cards from real STP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Network Design and Implementation flashcards as text

  1. In a redundant network design, which STP feature allows ports to bypass the Listening and Learning states and go directly to Forwarding?

    Answer: PortFast

    PortFast skips the Listening and Learning states, allowing a port to transition immediately to Forwarding — intended for access ports connected to end devices.

  2. A network engineer is designing a campus network with three distribution switches. Which STP enhancement should be deployed to ensure only designated root bridges can exist in specific VLANs?

    Answer: Root Guard

    Root Guard enforces the root bridge placement by blocking ports that receive superior BPDUs, preventing unexpected switches from becoming the root.

  3. Which topology creates the highest risk of STP failure due to unidirectional link failures?

    Answer: Fiber optic links without Loop Guard

    Fiber optic links can fail in one direction only (receive or transmit), causing STP to not detect the failure; Loop Guard mitigates this by moving the port to a loop-inconsistent state.

  4. In a hierarchical three-tier network design, where should the STP root bridge ideally be placed?

    Answer: Core layer

    Placing the root bridge at the core layer ensures that traffic flows optimally from access to distribution to core, avoiding suboptimal paths.

  5. A switch receives a BPDU on a PortFast-enabled port. If BPDU Guard is also enabled globally, what happens?

    Answer: The port is placed in errdisable state

    BPDU Guard shuts down the port (errdisable) immediately upon receiving any BPDU, protecting the network from rogue switches on access ports.

  6. Which STP design practice reduces convergence time in large Layer 2 networks by limiting the STP diameter?

    Answer: Keeping the network diameter to 7 hops or fewer

    STP's default timer calculations assume a maximum network diameter of 7 switches; exceeding this can cause timing issues and topology instability.

  7. When implementing Rapid STP (802.1w) in a network design, which port role replaces the classic STP Blocking port for faster failover?

    Answer: Alternate port

    In RSTP, the Alternate port provides a pre-calculated backup path to the root and can transition to Forwarding immediately when the Root port fails.