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Root Port Equal-Cost MAC Paradox

2

I know what you are thinking.. Wait a minute if the Mac address is part of the First Criteria (Bridge ID) why would you need any other criteria, they all should be unique, right?

Let’s Recall what a MAC address is:

98 : FA : 9B : 53 : BA : 9F

The ID of the Company who Made it

The Serial Number of the NIC

So you just bought 20 of these from the same vendor, how different are they

98 : FA : 9B : 53 : BA : 01

98 : FA : 9B : 53 : BA : 02

98 : FA : 9B : 53 : BA : 03

You also decided to use VLAN 1, VLAN 2, VLAN 3 etc, and used the default Priority

VLAN 1

VLAN 2

VLAN 3

In each case you are adding 4 to the default priority and all 3 have the same BID