Stacking And Management; Stacking And Redundancy; Meta-Data Considerations; Figure 3. Dell Powerconnect 8024F (10G Ethernet) - Dell PowerConnect M8024-k User Manual

Stacking PowerConnect 10G Switches: M8024-k, 8024, 8024F
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Figure 3.

Stacking and Management

An important advantage of stacking is that it provides a consolidated interface for management of
multiple switches linked together. After a stack is deployed in the network, operators can easily add
units to the stack as their port requirements increase, with minimal administrative overhead.
Additional stack members can immediately utilize existing configuration information such as routing
and switching configurations, VLANs, ACLs, port profiles, and security certificates.

Stacking and Redundancy

By connecting a cable from the last switch in a stack back to the first switch, the operator ensures that
a stack has the protection of redundant paths for control and data traffic, including support for LAGs
configured across multiple switches. This means that any single point of failure (a switch or a stack
cable failure) will not affect the overall operation of the remaining stack elements.

Meta-Data Considerations

When creating a stack, the configuration information is meta-data that is part of the hardware
configuration applied at boot time before the switch firmware is started (and before the startup
configuration is read). The stack information shown in the startup and running configurations is simply
copies of the stack configuration for the user's knowledge. The actual stack information used by the
switch is not that which is stored in the startup configuration.
A "stack member" configuration is always present on stacking capable switches, so there will always be
a line in the configuration that says "stack" and a second line that says "member" even if there are no
devices stacked. Since these are stack-capable devices, an "un-stacked" device is still considered a
stack of one. Here is an example configuration of a device that is not stacked.
console#show running-config
!Current Configuration:
!System Description "PowerConnect M8024-k, 4.2.0.1, VxWorks 6.6"
!System Software Version 4.2.0.1
!Cut-through mode is configured as disabled
!System Operational Mode "Normal"
no mode simple
vlan database
vlan routing 1 1
exit
slot 3/0 2
stack
member 3 1
exit
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Dell PowerConnect 8024F (10G Ethernet)
! PCM8024-k
! PCM8024-k
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
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