loops. Ports must wait for new network topology information to propagate throughout the network before starting to
forward packets. They must also wait for the packet lifetime to expire for BPDU packets that were forwarded based
on the old topology. The forward delay timer is used to allow the network topology to stabilize after a topology
change. In addition, STP specifies a series of states a port must transition through to further ensure that a stable
network topology is created after a topology change.
Each port on a switch using STP exists is in one of the following five states:
。 Blocking – the port is blocked from forwarding or receiving packets
。 Listening – the port is waiting to receive BPDU packets that may tell the port to go back to the blocking
state
。 Learning – the port is adding addresses to its forwarding database, but not yet forwarding packets
。 Forwarding – the port is forwarding packets
。 Disabled – the port only responds to network management messages and must return to the blocking state
first
A port transitions from one state to another as follows:
。 From initialization (switch boot) to blocking
。 From blocking to listening or to disabled
。 From listening to learning or to disabled
。 From learning to forwarding or to disabled
。 From forwarding to disabled
。 From disabled to blocking
Switch
Blocking
Listening
Learning
Forwarding
Disable
STP Port State Transitions
You can modify each port state by using management software. When you enable STP, every port on every switch
in the network goes through the blocking state and then transitions through the states of listening and learning at
