Lab 6:
Verifying Spanning-Tree Port States on Catalyst Switches
Lab Objective:
The objective of this lab exercise is to verify the different Spanning Tree port states, i.e. Listening, Learning, etc, and understand the IOS commands that can be used to determine the state of a port at any given time.
Lab Purpose:
Understanding the different Spanning-Tree protocol port states is a fundamental skill. In Spanning-Tree operation, ports transition from a Blocked state -> Listening state -> Learning state -> Forwarding state. A switched network is said to be converged when all ports are in the Forwarding or Blocking state. As a Cisco engineer, as well as in the Cisco CCNA exam, you will be expected to know the different Spanning-Tree port states.
Certification Level:
This lab is suitable for CCNA certification exam preparation
Lab Difficulty:
This lab has a difficulty rating of 5/10
Readiness Assessment:
When you are ready for your certification exam, you should complete this lab in no more than 15 minutes
Task 1:
In preparation for VLAN configuration, configure a hostname on Sw1 and R1 as illustrated in the topology.
Task 2:
Configure and verify Sw1 as a VTP Server switch in a VTP domain named CISCO. The VTP domain should have a password of CISCO.
Task 3:
Configure VLAN 10 on Sw1 as illustrated in the topology. Configure FastEthernet0/2 on Sw1 as an access port in VLAN 10 and bring up the FastEthernet0/0 interface on router R1.
Configure the IP address on router R1 FastEthernet0/0 as illustrated in the topology and configure VLAN interface 10 with the IP address in the topology on switch Sw1. Verify IP connectivity using ping.
Task 4:
On Sw1, issue a shutdown and then a no shutdown command on FastEthernet0/2. Verify the transition of the Spanning-Tree state of the port to the Forwarding state. Make sure you see the interface in at least three different Spanning-Tree states.