# Displaying bridge information

The Base tab displays basic Bridge information including the MAC address, type, and number of ports participating in the Bridge.

The MAC address used by the bridge must be referred to in a unique fashion; moreover, it must be the smallest MAC address (numerically) of all ports that belong to the bridge. However, it is only required to be unique when integrated with dot1dStpPriority. A unique BridgeIdentifier is formed that is used in the Spanning Tree Protocol.

To open the Base tab:

## Procedure steps

1. From the navigation tree, double-click Edit.

2. From the Edit tree, double-click Bridge.

3. Select the Base tab.

The following table outlines the parameters for the Base tab.

Table 1. Variable definitions
Variable | Value
--- | ---
BridgeAddress | MAC address of the bridge when it is referred to in a unique fashion. This address must be the smallest MAC address of all ports that belong to the bridge. However, it is has to be unique. When concatenated with dot1dStpPriority, a unique bridge ID is formed that is then used in the Spanning Tree Protocol.
NumPorts | Number of ports controlled by the bridging entity.
Type | Indicates the type of bridging this bridge can perform. If the bridge is actually performing a certain type of bridging, this fact is indicated by entries in the port table for the given type.