What are the advantages and disadvantages of the spanning tree algorithm?
The advantage of the algorithm is that it is distributed. There is no central administrator that dictates the organization of the spanning tree. If there were such a central authority, it would have to be continually aware of changes within the extended LAN so that it could dictate a new organization. Getting this information would require additional message passing and would rely on the central administrator itself not failing. A central administrator might be able to configure a better spanning tree, but it would require additional overhead traffic and would not be as robust (able to accommodate failures) as the distributed algorithm. What is the difference between ATM and Ethernet. ATM is a virtual circuit network that requires a call setup and call disconnect. Ethernet is a LAN protocol that uses contention to acquire the physical medium. Ethernet is a set of protocols to provide the organization for a single LAN. ATM is a switching strategy that can be used over an extended interc
