A consultant has been tasked to assess a client's network.
The client reports frequent network outages.
Upon viewing the spanning tree configuration, the consultant notices that an old and law performing edge switch on the network has been elected to be the root bridge.
Which of the following explains this scenario?
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A. B. C. D.B.
In a network, the spanning tree protocol (STP) is used to prevent loops from forming in the network topology. The protocol elects one of the switches as the root bridge, and all the other switches in the network are connected to it. The root bridge is responsible for forwarding network traffic between different segments of the network.
In this scenario, the consultant notices that an old and low-performing edge switch has been elected to be the root bridge, which could be causing frequent network outages. Let's go through each of the answer choices to see which one explains this scenario.
A. The switch also serves as the DHCP server The switch serving as a DHCP server does not impact the election of the root bridge. DHCP is a protocol used to assign IP addresses to devices on the network, and it is not related to the STP protocol.
B. The switch has the lowest MAC address The STP protocol uses a bridge ID (BID) to determine the root bridge. The BID is composed of a priority value and the MAC address of the switch. The switch with the lowest BID is elected as the root bridge. Therefore, if the switch in question has the lowest MAC address among all switches in the network, it could be elected as the root bridge.
C. The switch has spanning tree loop protection enabled Spanning tree loop protection is a feature that prevents loops in the network by blocking ports that receive the same BPDU (Bridge Protocol Data Unit) from another switch. While this feature is important, it does not impact the election of the root bridge.
D. The switch has the fastest uplink port The STP protocol does not use the speed of the uplink port to determine the root bridge. The election is based on the BID value as explained in option B.
Therefore, the answer that best explains the scenario is B. The switch has the lowest MAC address among all switches in the network, resulting in its election as the root bridge. However, since the switch is old and low-performing, it may not be able to handle the network traffic efficiently, resulting in frequent outages. The consultant may recommend replacing the switch with a newer one to improve network performance and stability.