Configuring the maximum hops of an MST region

Restrict the region size by setting the maximum hops of an MST region. The hop limit configured on the regional root bridge is used as the hop limit for the MST region.

Configuration BPDUs sent by the regional root bridge always have a hop count set to the maximum value. When a device receives this configuration BPDU, it decrements the hop count by one, and uses the new hop count in the BPDUs that it propagates. When the hop count of a BPDU reaches zero, it is discarded by the device that received it. Devices beyond the reach of the maximum hops can no longer participate in spanning tree calculations, so the size of the MST region is limited.

Make this configuration only on the root bridge. All other devices in the MST region use the maximum hop value set for the root bridge.

You can configure the maximum hops of an MST region based on the STP network size. As a best practice, set the maximum hops to a value that is greater than the maximum hops of each edge device to the root bridge.

To configure the maximum number of hops of an MST region: