Hi all, I was wondering if anyone is familiar with configuring the Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP/STP)? I've encountered some issues while attempting to configure the bridge interface, mainly involving the settings for Hello time (seconds) and Priority.
I tried modifying the settings using both the WebGUI and CLI methods, but neither yielded the expected results. Initially curious about the default value of Hello time (2 seconds), I wanted to reduce it to its minimum limit (1 second) for testing. However, when attempting to make this modification using the CLI command ifconfig bridge0 hellotime 1, I was met with the error message ifconfig: BRDGSHT 1: Operation not permitted, indicating that the operation was not allowed, hence I was unable to successfully change the Hello time to 1 second.
Furthermore, regarding the Priority setting, I noticed that the bridge's Priority is adjustable, but when I expected to change it to 10000, it turned out to be 8192 instead. I am curious if there is a fixed rule for this. In addition, the changes I made to the Priority Interface did not show any updates. The same goes for the Path cost.
I hope to receive help and guidance from everyone regarding the issues mentioned above with bridge RSTP settings. Thank you all!
The priority is not an arbitrary value but a choice from a fixed power-of-two-ish set if I am not mistaken.
According to the FreeBSD man page (https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ifconfig&sektion=8&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+13.3-STABLE) the minimum is 0 and the maximum 61440.
I found some documentation by Cisco (https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst4000/8-2glx/configuration/guide/spantree.html#wp1175769) that lists the possibly values as:
0
4096
8192
12,288
16,384
20,480
24,576
28,672
32,768
36,864
40,960
45,056
49,152
53,248
57,344
61,440
No idea about the hello timer in FreeBSD, sorry.
Thank you very much for your response, your suggestions have been incredibly helpful to me! Regarding the setting of priority, I referred to the Cisco documentation you provided, and my tests show that it works as expected. As for the hello time aspect, I plan to further consult Cisco, FreeBSD, or other relevant documents to see if I can find a solution. Regardless, I want to express my sincere gratitude for the valuable advice you have provided. Thank you so much. :D
Hi everyone. Regarding the priority setting for bridge0, as replied by Patrick M. Hausen, the available parameters are as follows: 0, 4096, 8192, 12288, 16384, 20480, 24576, 28672, 32768, 36864, 40960, 45056, 49152, 53248, 57344, 61440. These parameters can be modified in both the WebGUI and CLI.
Additionally, as mentioned in the Priority (Interface) note, "Set the Spanning Tree priority of the interface to a value. The default is 128. The minimum is 0, and the maximum is 240, with increments of 16." I successfully modified it in the CLI using the ifconfig <bridge_interface> ifpriority <interface> <value> command, with parameters being multiples of 16, ranging from 16*1 to 16*15. Unexpectedly, I was unable to make the modifications via the WebGUI; I wonder if anyone else has encountered this issue?
Lastly, the same situation occurs with Path cost (Interface), where modifications using the CLI command ifconfig <bridge_interface> ifpathcost <interface> <value> were successful, with parameters ranging from 2000 to 2000*100000. However, I faced issues modifying it via the WebGUI as well. Has anyone else experienced this?
Thank you all!