Recommendations for Placing Switches for Stacked Operation
For best results in a SummitStack configuration, follow these recommendations for physically situating
your equipment:
•
Use the shortest possible stacking cables to connect the switches in the stack. This reduces the
likelihood that the stacking cables might accidentally be damaged or disconnected. Stacking cables
are available in lengths ranging from 0.3 meters to 100 meters.
•
When possible, place all switches for the stack in the same rack or in adjacent racks. This facilitates
using shorter stacking cables.
•
The primary switch, or node, is the switch through which you will perform the initial stack
configuration, using the console port. For simplicity and ease of connecting the stacking cables, plan
to designate the top switch in a vertical physical stack as the primary switch. If switches are installed
in several adjacent racks, place the primary switch at one end of the row.
•
Physically locate the intended primary and backup nodes adjacent to each other, and plan to
connect these nodes to each other directly so that Switch Engine application synchronization traffic
is localized to a single stack link.
•
On the primary node, connect the Ethernet management port to your management network.
•
To provide management access to the stack in case of a failure in the primary switch, connect all
switches that will participate in redundancy to your management network using the Ethernet
management port on each switch.
•
Use stacking cables to interconnect the stack nodes into a ring topology (see
on page 37). Include only the nodes that you expect to be active in the
stack.
Follow the recommendations in
Recommendations for Configuring Stacks
on page 45 to configure the
software for your stack.
The recommended procedures for installing and interconnecting a stack are found in
on page 49.
Recommendations for Configuring Stacks
When deploying a new stack, follow these recommendations for configuring the software:
•
Plan to use the stack as if it were a single multi-slot switch. You need to decide the number and type
of stackable switches in the stack and how the stack ports will be connected to the network.
•
You can physically connect the stack to your networks before the nodes are configured. However,
the default configuration on a switch in non-stacking mode assumes a default untagged VLAN that
contains all switch ports. When first powered on, the switch acts as a Layer 2 switch, possibly
resulting in network loops.
•
Make sure all nodes support the SummitStack feature and are running the same Switch Engine
software version. (See the
ExtremeXOS and Switch Engine 31.6 Feature License Requirements
.) To
view the Switch Engine software version on a node, restart the node and run the command:
show version {
detail
|
process
name
|
images
{
partition
partition
}
{
slot
slot_number
} }
.
Build Stacks
Recommendations for Placing Switches for Stacked
Operation
ExtremeSwitching 5320 Series Hardware Installation Guide
45
