I'm planning on stacking Dell PowerConnect 6248 switches together. I know that I need one stacking module in each switch, but I'm uncertain about the cabling. Since I only have two switches, do I need to loop them using two cables or will one stacking cable suffice? Thanks!
2 Answers
You could get away with one. However unlikely, but possible, losing a stacking module would sever the connection between switches, and isolate the stacking function from one another. A second interconnect would provide redundancy, and possibly increased bandwidth between stack members.
This whitepaper has some good information about stacking: Stacking Dell PowerConnect 6200 Series Switches
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Thanks for the answer. However, I'm referring to the cables, not the modules. Each module has two ports and each switch can contain two modules (4 ports/cables). – jamieb Nov 10 '12 at 21:05
One cable will work since it is bidirectional transmission, but you won't have any redundancy in this case. This is what @mcmeel meant (he never mentioned using a second module in the other bay, he spoke about interconnects).
Using n>1 cables between the stacking modules of both switches or even multiple stacking modules in each switch enables you to use Link Aggregation according to IEEE 802.1AX-2008, which offers you two big features:
- Redundancy: If a cable fails (which is more likely then ones might think), you have still an intact second route for your packets/data to flow. If you even have multiple stacking modules (both module bays occupied), you have redundancy in case an entire module fails.
- Speed: Depending on the load balancing algorithms of the switches, it is possible to achieve higher data rates, because the packets are distributed over the n interconnections. This results in higher throughput through the Link Aggregation Group compared to a single interconnection
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