SF 300 Serires switch not participating in spanning tree?

Question

I just purchased an SF300-24 managed switch and I am running it in layer3 mode. I am testing it out right now and have it connected to two 2950 switches. The SF300 is connected to each 2950 with a four port etherchannel running LACP. When looking at spanning tree all three switches are configured the same when it comes to hello, forward, max age and all three are in RSTP mode. I adjusted the priorities so that the SF300 would be the root but that is not happening.
I only have one VLAN as of right now set up and connectivity between the three switches is fine. The only problem seems to be that the two 2950 switches are the only two switches involved in the determination of the root bridge. Additionally it was the same way before I configured the etherchannel and had the switches connected over single trunk lines.
I would appreciate if someone can expain to me why this is?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
Thanks for your help but know I still cannot get the three devices to talk MST either,it is getting frustrating. If i add a redundant link and directly connect the two 2950's they immediately talk and configure MST. But when I remove that link no info is passed and both 2950's think they are the root even though the SF 300 priority is 0 on all three MST instances. On the SF300 I have the following settings:
Spanning tree: enabled
STP Operation Mode: Multiple STP
BPDU Handling: Flooding
Path Cost: Long
Region name: test
Revision: 1
Max Hops: 20
Max-age: 20
Hello Time: 2
Forward Delay: 15
MST instance 1 Vlan 100
Bridge Priority 0
Designated Root Bridge: Self
Root port: 0
Root path cost: 0
MST instance 2 Vlan 2-5
Bridge Priority 0
Designated Root Bridge: Self
Root port: 0
Root path cost: 0
MST instance 0 all vlans not in instance 1 and 2
Bridge Priority 0
Designated Root Bridge: Self
Root port: 0
Root path cost: 0
For MST interface Settings (both LAGs/instances are thesame)
Int Priority: 128
Path Cost: 20000
Port State: Boundary
Mode: RSTP
Type: Boundary
Designated port ID: 128
Designated Cost: 0
Remain Hops: 20
Forward Transitions: 1
The 2950 switches: (The only difference on the other switch is that the priority is 8192, and the MACs of course)
MST00 is executing the mstp compatible Spanning Treeprotocol
  Bridge Identifierhas priority 4096, sysid 0, address 000b.460e.e040
  Configured hello time 2, max age 20, forward delay 15
  Current root haspriority 0, address 6c50.4dcb.334b
  Root port is 65 (Port-channel1), cost of root path is 50000
  Topology change flag not set, detected flag not set
  Number of topology changes 7 last change occurred 00:18:54 ago
          from Port-channel1
  Times:  hold 1, topology change 35, notification 2
          hello 2, max age 20, forward delay 15
  Timers: hello 0, topology change 0, notification 0
Port 65 (Port-channel1) of MST00 is root forwarding
   Port path cost 50000, Port priority 128, Port Identifier 128.65.
   Designated roothas priority 0, address 6c50.4dcb.334b
   Designatedbridge has priority 0, address 6c50.4dcb.334b
   Designated port id is 128.1000, designated path cost 0
   Timers: message age 4, forward delay 0, hold 0
   Number of transitions to forwarding state: 1
   Link type ispoint-to-point by default, Boundary RSTP
   BPDU: sent 571,received 568
MST01 is executingthe mstp compatible Spanning Tree protocol
  Bridge Identifierhas priority 4096, sysid 1, address 000b.460e.e040
  Configured hello time 2, max age 20, forward delay 15
  We are the root of the spanning tree
  Topology change flag not set, detected flag not set
  Number of topology changes 9 last change occurred 00:18:55 ago
          from Port-channel1
  Times:  hold 1, topology change 35, notification 2
          hello 2, max age 20, forward delay 15
  Timers: hello 0, topology change 0, notification 0
Port 65 (Port-channel1) of MST01 is boundary forwarding
   Port path cost 50000, Port priority 128, Port Identifier 128.65.
   Designated root has priority 4097, address 000b.460e.e040
   Designated bridge has priority 4097, address 000b.460e.e040
   Designated port id is 128.65, designated path cost 0
   Timers: message age 0, forward delay 0, hold 0
   Number of transitions to forwarding state: 1
   Link type ispoint-to-point by default, Boundary RSTP
   BPDU: sent 598,received 0
MST02 is executingthe mstp compatible Spanning Tree protocol
  Bridge Identifierhas priority 4096, sysid 2, address 000b.460e.e040
  Configured hello time 2, max age 20, forward delay 15
  We are the root of the spanning tree
  Topology change flag not set, detected flag not set
  Number of topology changes 9 last change occurred 00:19:50 ago
          from Port-channel1
  Times:  hold 1, topology change 35, notification 2
          hello 2, max age 20, forward delay 15
  Timers: hello 0, topology change 0, notification 0
Port 65 (Port-channel1) of MST02 is boundary forwarding
   Port path cost 50000, Port priority 128, Port Identifier 128.65.
   Designated root has priority 4098, address 000b.460e.e040
   Designated bridge has priority 4098, address 000b.460e.e040
   Designated port id is 128.65, designated path cost 0
   Timers: message age 0, forward delay 0, hold 0
   Number of transitions to forwarding state: 1
   Link type ispoint-to-point by default, Boundary RSTP
   BPDU: sent 611,received 0
I notice that on MST01 and 02 they are not receiving BPDU’s,but I am not sure why or if that is the problem. It appears that the SF 300 is not sending BPDU packets for MST01 and 02, but is sending them for MST00. I also attached a capture. I captured the VLAN info for VLAN 100 which is in MST1. on the SF300, it appears that the SF 300 is recieving STP traffic but not generating any.