VSF allows supported switches connected to each other through normal Ethernet connections (copper or fiber) to
behave like a single switch.
Figure 104: Two devices using VSF technology appearing as a single node to the upper-layer and lower-layer
devices
IP network
Simplified to
VSF fabric
IP network
For 16.01, VSF supported a 2–member stack for a pair of 5400R switches with V3 blades, interconnected through
standard Ethernet connections with front-plane stacking capability. Interswitch connectivity was restricted to 10G
and 40G links. From 16.03 onwards, VSF supported a 4-member stack for 1G and 10G links. In VSF 8–member
stack, the same front-plane stacking capability has been extended to 2930F switches. Variants have:
• 1G (copper and SFP) ports and 10G (SFP+) ports.
• PoE+ and non-PoE+ ports.
• None of the variants have an OOBM port.
The VSF feature allows the user to form a stack of up to eight devices of any SKU, including mixing the SKUs in a
single stack. The switches in these stacks are interconnected using standard Ethernet connections. These
interconnections between member switches are called VSF links. Each VSF link can comprise up to eight
individual VSF ports, and traffic between two members will be load-balanced automatically across all the
Chapter 20 Virtual Switching Framework (VSF)
649
