Advice on basic STP and network design

Hi,

Please could someone give me guidance for building a basic network with regards to STP settings.

Lets say a "core switch" and a few edge switches. All switches connect back to the core via a 2 port lag group.

So what would some common settings be?

• Port fast on all ports connecting to client devices ? - (main advantage is port up speed is increased-but downside is that can still cause STP topology changes?)
• RSTP enabled on all switches ?
• Root Guard to ensure root stays as the core?

Any thing else that you would recommend?

Cheers

Dave