Building Stacks; Introduction To Stacking - Extreme Networks ExtremeSwitching X435 Series Hardware Installation Manual

Building Stacks

Introduction to Stacking

Planning to Create Your Stack
Setting up the Physical Stack
A stack consists of a group of up to eight switches that are connected to form a ring. The stack offers
the combined port capacity of the individual switches. But it operates as if it were a single switch,
making network administration easier.
Stacking is facilitated by the SummitStack feature – part of the ExtremeXOS Edge license.
This chapter describes the supported configurations for stacking switches, the considerations for
planning a stack, and the steps for setting up the hardware. We recommend that you read this chapter
before installing the switches that will make up the stack.
Refer to the Stacking chapter in the
stack, maintaining the stack configuration, and troubleshooting.
Introduction to Stacking
Using the SummitStack feature—part of the ExtremeXOS Edge license—a stack can combine switches
from different series, provided that every switch in the stack:
•
Runs in the same partition (primary or secondary).
•
Runs the same version of ExtremeXOS.
•
Includes support for stacking.
The stack operates as if it were a single switch with a single IP address and a single point of
authentication. One switch – called the master switch – is responsible for running network protocols and
managing the stack. The master runs ExtremeXOS software and maintains all the software tables for all
the switches in the stack.
All switches in the stack, including the master switch, are called nodes.
stack, connected to each other by SummitStack cables.
All connections between stack ports must be directly between switches. A stacking connection cannot
pass through a third device, for example a Virtual Port Extender or an LRM/MACsec Adapter.
on page 179
on page 192
on page 213
ExtremeXOS 30.7 User Guide
ExtremeSwitching Hardware Installation Guide
for information about configuring a
Figure 150 shows four nodes in a
179