Switch on Aperture Zone

Spanning Tree Protocol: understanding and deploying STP/MSTP

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

If you have multiple switches, you’ve surely heard of the Spanning Tree Protocol. But there’s often a gap between theory and practice—especially when you encounter unusual hardware with unexpected interfaces.

This article details a real-world implementation of MSTP on three HP 1910 switches (based on Comware H3C), including the problems encountered and the solutions found. Spoiler: the GUI won’t be your friend.

Why STP?

The Loop Problem

In a network with multiple interconnected switches, physical loops can exist—whether intentional for redundancy or accidental. Without protection, a broadcast frame enters a loop and circulates indefinitely, duplicating itself with each pass. Within seconds, the network is 100% saturated: this is a broadcast storm, and it renders the infrastructure completely unusable.

LACP on HP V1910 (H3C Comware)

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

> Infrastructure involved: HP V1910 (x2), Synology NAS (x3), TrueNAS, Windows Server 2022 (Hyper-V)

LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol), defined by the IEEE 802.3ad standard (part of 802.1AX), allows multiple physical links to be grouped into a single logical link called a LAG (Link Aggregation Group). There are numerous benefits:

Increased aggregate bandwidth for multiple traffic flows
Automatic redundancy: if a physical link fails, the others take over without intervention
Dynamic negotiation: the protocol detects and adapts to changes in link status

> ⚠️ Important: LACP does not increase the throughput of a single flow. A given flow always remains on the same physical link (hashing). The benefit is realized across multiple simultaneous flows.

HTTPS on HP ProCurve V1910

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Securing access to the web interface of managed switches is one of those tasks that seems trivial on paper. On recent hardware, it is indeed trivial. On HP ProCurve V1910 switches—Comware v5 switches that are still used in many home labs and small infrastructures—it's a different story. This article documents the entire project, the pitfalls, the discoveries, and an honest conclusion about what it's really worth.

The test infrastructure: three HP V1910 switches (firmware 5.20 Release 1519P06) on a dedicated, isolated management VLAN with no Internet access. An internal CA based on OpenSSL runs on a Linux server in the infrastructure.