Overview of PVST and PVST+

Per VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST) is a Cisco proprietary protocol that allows a Cisco device to have multiple spanning trees. The Cisco device can interoperate with spanning trees on other PVST devices but cannot interoperate with IEEE 802.1Q devices. An IEEE 802.1Q device has all its ports running a single spanning tree. PVST+ is an extension of PVST that allows a Cisco device to also interoperate with devices that are running a single spanning tree (IEEE 802.1Q).

Enhanced PVST+ support allows a Ruckus device to interoperate with PVST spanning trees and the IEEE 802.1Q spanning tree at the same time.

IEEE 802.1Q and PVST regions cannot interoperate directly but can interoperate indirectly through PVST+ regions. PVST BPDUs are tunnelled through 802.1Q regions, while PVST BPDUs for VLAN 1 (the IEEE 802.1Q VLAN) are processed by PVST+ regions. The following figure shows the interaction of IEEE 802.1Q, PVST, and PVST+ regions.

Figure 74  Interaction of IEEE 802.1Q, PVST, and PVST+ regions