Selecting the spanning tree enabled option

If this option is enabled, because the network to which the system is being attached supports spanning trees, the firmware imposes a waiting period of up to 60 seconds before the adapter can communicate with the network. If this option is disabled, the network adapter can access the network immediately after the system is connected.

The spanning tree protocol is a link-management protocol that provides path redundancy while preventing duplicate loops in a network. The spanning tree option is enabled or disabled on the network switch. If the LAN adapter port being configured, by using the SMS adapter menus, is attached to a network switch that has the spanning tree protocol enabled, the spanning tree option on the Adapter Configuration menu remains enabled, which is the default. If the network switch does not support the spanning tree protocol, or it is disabled, the spanning tree option on the Adapter Configuration menu can be disabled. Leaving this option enabled does not affect the operation of the adapter. This setting potentially affects the ping test and NIM installation. If the spanning tree setting on the port is disabled, but it is enabled on the network switch to which it is attached, the ping test and NIM installation might fail even though the network and the adapter are operational.