What is the default factor in STP that determines the cost of the path associated with a link?
- the duplex of the link
- the type of link
- the speed of the link
- the bridge priority
Explanation: In the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), the path cost is a critical metric used to determine the best loop-free path from a nonroot bridge to the root bridge. By default, this cost is automatically calculated based on the speed or bandwidth of the link. The protocol uses an inverse relationship where links with higher bandwidth are assigned lower cost values, while slower links are assigned higher costs. This logic ensures that STP prefers faster paths for data transmission when electing root ports and designated ports. Although network administrators have the flexibility to manually configure these costs to manipulate the active topology for specific traffic engineering needs, the default operational behavior of a switch relies entirely on the detected interface speed to establish the most efficient, redundant network environment.
Related exam: Modules 1 – 7: Checkpoint Exam: Network Switching Answers (CCNP ENCOR v9)
