The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) (IEEE standard 802.1D) is a data link layer (layer 2) protocol that provides a mechanism by which bridges in an Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN) can select a network link by which to transmit packets to other bridges in the network in an optimal and loop free manner. Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) is an evolution of STP that provides for a faster spanning tree convergence after a topology change. Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP) is an extension of RSTP developed to further enhance the usefulness of virtual LANs (VLANs) by configuring a separate spanning tree for each VLAN group and blocking all but one possible alternate path within each spanning tree.
Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) (IEEE standard 802.4az) is a layer 1 protocol used to save energy by shutting down portions of the PHYsical layer (PHY) of an Ethernet node until the node is ready to send or receive data.