Difference between pvst and Rpvst

[13jobsp90]

Whats is the difference between pvst and Rpvst? Is there any problem if i put only pvst in all switches instead of RPVST?

[ammahend]

generally speaking, here are some key differences

Feature	PVST	RPVST
STP Protocol Version	IEEE 802.1D (STP)	IEEE 802.1w (RSTP)
Convergence Speed	Slow (30-50 seconds)	Fast (<1 second)
Per-VLAN Topologies	Yes (separate STP instance for each VLAN)	Yes (separate RSTP instance for each VLAN)
BPDU Format	Standard STP BPDU	Enhanced RSTP BPDU
Link Failure Recovery	Slower (30-50 seconds)	Rapid (sub-second)

[shambhu.kumar]

Please check this link,

https://community.cisco.com/t5/switching/pvst-rstp-and-rapid-pvst/td-p/1459012

Regards

[Blue_Bird]

Hello 13jobsp90,

The Primary Difference between PVST and RPVST is convergence time. PVST will take 50 seconds to bring blocked state to Forwarding state, Where as RPVST takes around <10 seconds. It is recomended to use RPVST if all switches supports.

Networks already running PVST may face challenges when switching to Rapid PVST, as it requires careful planning and configuration changes. However, Rapid PVST's backwards compatibility with PVST allows for a mixed environment, providing flexibility during transition periods.

Best regards
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[MHM Cisco World]

Are SW support pvst ? I think new SW only supports r-pvst.

And r-pvst is faster than pvst.

MHM

[MHM Cisco World]

show spanning-tree summary <<- check the mode 
I check IOS run by default mode PVST and can config to be R-PVST or MST 
NOTE:- if one SW run PVST and other SW run R-PVST the SW with R-PVST is compatabile to work with SW (PVST)

MHM

[Cristian Matei]

Hi,

    Differences are way too many, a good and short document that covers important ones can be found here: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/lan-switching/spanning-tree-protocol/24062-146.html

     Although in most cases you'll be fine running PVST instead of RPVST, in some but enough cases you'll run into real problems (e.g FW HA failover not working and resulting in split-brain, IGP adjacency flaps, just to name a few); not to mention that convergence in RPVST is in general sub-second while in PVST is 30 or 50 seconds depending on failure scenario.

   Highly recommended to run RPVST everywhere, alongside with PORTFAST (EDGE port concept in RSTP); without PORTFAST, E2E convergence is still like in PVST.

Best,

Cristian.

[Joseph W. Doherty]

"Whats is the difference between pvst and Rpvst?"

It's in the later's name, and not the former, i.e. "rapid".

"Is there any problem if i put only pvst in all switches instead of RPVST?"

Depends what you might consider a problem.  The "rapid" variant is considered "better" for multiple reasons.  Is there some reason why you believe you would be better served with the non-rapid variant?