PortFast

It takes 50 seconds to bring a port up from Blocking to Forwarding Mode. It makes sense to use STP/RSTP between the Switches as Loop might occur between Switch to Switch.

  • But Loop won't occur between Switch & End devices. So we need a feature to simply disable STP on the Edge ports where no STP enabled devices are connected to bring the port up immediately.

  • Solution is PortFast.

  • You can enable PortFast manually on STP running Switch's Edge ports to skip the un-necessary Listening & Learning State.

  • RSTP is enabled by default on newer Cisco Switches which skips the Listening & Learning State that means PortFast is also enabled by default on RSTP running Switches on Edge ports.

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