Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Practice Exam

What are the states of STP ports and their meaning?

1. Disabled, Forwarding, Listening, Learning

2. Blocked, Learning, Listening, Forwarding

3. Forwarding, Blocked, Disabled, Disturbed

4. Learning, Listening, Active, Forwarding

The correct answer is: Blocked, Learning, Listening, Forwarding

The correct answer identifies the states of Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) ports as Blocked, Learning, Listening, and Forwarding. In the context of STP, these states are crucial for maintaining loop-free network topologies and determining how traffic is managed across a network. - Blocked: This state prevents any data from passing through the port. It is used to avoid loops in the network by placing certain ports in a non-active state, ensuring that frames do not circulate endlessly. - Learning: In this state, the port can hear traffic on the network but does not yet forward it. It is responsible for adding MAC addresses to the MAC address table, which helps determine which ports correspond to which devices. - Listening: While in this state, the port is open to receive and process bridge protocol data units (BPDU) to learn about the network topology while still not forwarding user data frames. This is a transitional phase to allow the network to stabilize. - Forwarding: In this state, the port can send and receive traffic, actively participating in data frame forwarding within the network. This is the state where the port fully contributes to network communication. Understanding these states is essential for configuring and troubleshooting a network that uses STP, as