Introduction - HP ProCurve 5300xl Series Management Manual

Switch Meshing

Introduction

7-2

Introduction

Switch meshing is a load-balancing technology that enhances reliability and
performance in these ways:
■ Provides significantly better bandwidth utilization than either Spanning
Tree Protocol (STP) or standard port trunking.
Uses redundant links that remain open to carry traffic, removing any
■
single point of failure for disabling the network, and allowing quick
responses to individual link failures. This also helps to maximize invest­
ments in ports and cabling.
■ Unlike trunked ports, the ports in a switch mesh can be of different types
and speeds (10 and 100 Mbps, gigabit, and 10 gigabit). For example, a
10Base-FL port and a 1GB port can be included in the same switch mesh.
Non-Meshed Port
Node "A"
W
Meshed Port
The mesh-configured ports in switches 1-4 form a Switch Mesh Domain
Figure 7-1. Example of Switch Meshing
W
Switch 2
(Meshed)
Switch 1
(Meshed)
Switch 3
(Meshed)
W
Node "B"
Switch 4
W
(Meshed)
Switch Mesh Domain