Root Guard is a layer 2 security mechanism designed to protect the “Root Bridge” and ensure it remains as the “Root” in the spanning tree topology. Root guard can protect against mis-configurations and mitigate MiM type attacks. Lets say in the topology below “SW-1” has been elected as the “Root Bridge” with the default priority… Read More »
Loop Guard and UDLD (Uni-directional Link Detection) are two ways to protect networks against loops. Loop guard is a spanning-tree optimisation protocol and can work with both Fibre and UTP cables while UDLD only works with fibre and is a layer 1/2 protocol (unrelated to spanning-tree) that protects the upper layer protocols from causing loops.… Read More »
BPDU Guard, BPDU Filter, Root Guard and Loop Guard are all considered spanning tree security features, they all have different characteristics as to what they protect and how they work. Spanning tree attacks can harm the data-plane at Layer 2 therefore using spanning tree security we can mitigate “Man in the Middle” type attacks, protect… Read More »