Managing A Switch Stack; Stacking Overview - Dell PowerConnect 8024 User Configuration Manual

Managing a Switch Stack

This chapter describes how to configure and manage a stack of switches.
The topics covered in this chapter include:
•

Stacking Overview

• Default Stacking Values
• Managing and Monitoring the Stack (Web)
• Managing the Stack (CLI)
• Stacking and NSF Usage Scenarios
Stacking Overview
PowerConnect 8000-series and 8100-series switches support high
performance stacking, allowing increased capacity to be added as needed,
without affecting network performance and providing a single point of
management.
Up to six PowerConnect 8024/8024F units can be stacked together using the
10G SFP+ fiber ports only. In other words, the copper 10 GbaseT ports on
the PC8024/PC8024F units cannot be used for stacking. When a combo port
is configured in stacking mode, the corresponding copper port is disabled.
The 10G ports default to Ethernet mode, so the ports must be reconfigured
as stacking ports.
Also, up to six PowerConnect 8132/8132F/8164/8164F can be stacked using
the 10G SFP+ fiber ports or the fixed 10G/40G QSFP ports. In other words,
all the ports on the 8100 series switches can be used for stacking.
Stacking is supported at distances of up to 100M if the switch is configured to
use Priority Flow Control on any port. Stacking using LR/LRM transceivers is
supported up to the maximum distance supported by the transceiver/fiber
combination (10 km for 10GBase-LR).
A single switch in the stack manages all the units in the stack (the stack
master), and you manage the stack by using a single IP address. The IP
address of the stack does not change, even if the stack master changes.
Managing a Switch Stack
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