STP Blocking AP's

[Jromero40]

I have an issue with My AP's being blocked by STP. I work for a University and we have found in past instances that students will bridge thier NIC's (Wired and Wireless) thinking they will get faster connections. This is the reason we turned spanning tree on. Is there a way to make sure that the port with the AP always takes priority or that it never gets blocked?

[tschaps]

You can configure an STP "port priority" on ports, so you just make sure ports connecting to APs are assigned a higher priority (usually a lower number) than ports leading to wall jacks. I suggest you check out the configuration manual for your switch to find out exactly how it's done.

[paulgear]

As well as port priority, you can also use spanning tree BPDU filter to ignore BPDUs on the port entirely, and keep it in forwarding mode.  Of course, this means that your clients, if they bridge wired and wireless networks without honouring STP, can create loops in the network. Probably best to implement a policy whereby people are not allowed to use bridges, IMO.