SLPP and STP

[jimimars]

I have recently change jobs. Both location use Nortel/Avaya equipment, but the configurations could not be more different. My current employer does not use spanning tree on the edge ports, but instead uses SLPP. I was under the impression that this protocol was for MLT/SMLT ports. Does using SLPP on edge ports do anything or should the user ports be set to STP learning fast to prevent loops?

[Johan Witters]

Hi Jimimars,

while not designed for this task, it should be possible to disable STP on the access ports and use SLPP for loop protection. This has been discussed in the past on the forum, if you search for SLPP you can find several post on this scenario.

Keep in mind though that it is not enough to configure SLPP guard on the ports. You need an ERS5000/8000 or VSP model switch to send out the actual SLPP PDU's, so it won't work if you only have ERS4000 switches in your network...