Cisco Certified Network Professional 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

The correct choice is Per VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST), as it is designed specifically to create separate spanning tree instances for each VLAN within a network. This is important because it allows the network to optimize the path selection individually for each VLAN. By having a dedicated spanning tree for each VLAN, PVST enables efficient load balancing, better fault tolerance, and improved overall network performance.

Each VLAN can have distinct topologies and characteristics, which means that network administrators can configure the spanning tree for each VLAN according to its specific traffic patterns and requirements. This flexibility is a significant advantage over solutions that provide a single spanning tree instance for the entire network.

In contrast, Common Spanning Tree (CST) provides a single spanning tree for all VLANs, leading to potential inefficiencies and limitations in larger, more complex networks. Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) is an enhancement of the original spanning tree protocol that improves convergence times but doesn't inherently allow for multiple spanning trees on a per-VLAN basis like PVST does. Multi-Instance Spanning Tree (MIST) is a term not widely recognized in conventional IEEE standards; while it suggests multiple spanning trees, it is not the standard terminology used like PVST. Hence, PVST is the