Administrator Guide

194 Stacking
A stack of four 48-port Dell Networking N1500 Series switches has an
aggregate throughput capacity of 192 Gbps. Dell Networking N1500 Series
stacking links operate at 10 Gbps or 5.2% of total aggregate throughput
capacity of a full stack; therefore, it is recommended that operators provision
large stacking topologies such that it is unlikely that a significant portion of
the stack capacity will transit stacking links. One technique for achieving this
is to distribute uplinks evenly across the stack vs. connecting all uplinks to a
single stack unit or to adjacent stacking units.
A stack of twelve 48-port Dell Networking N2000 or Dell Networking N3000
Series switches has an aggregate throughput capacity of 576 Gbps. Dell
Networking N2000/N3000 Series stacking links operate at 21 Gbps or 3.6% of
total aggregate throughput capacity of a full stack; therefore, it is
recommended that operators provision large stacking topologies such that it
is unlikely that a significant portion of the stack capacity will transit stacking
links. One technique for achieving this is to distribute uplinks evenly across
the stack vs. connecting all uplinks to a single stack unit or to adjacent
stacking units.
Dell Networking N4000 Series switches support high performance stacking
over front-panel ports, allowing increased capacity to be added as needed,
without affecting network performance and providing a single point of
management. Up to twelve Dell Networking N4000 Series switches can be
stacked using any port as long as the link bandwidth for parallel stacking links
is the same. In other words, all the port types on the Dell Networking N4000
Series switches can be used for stacking. Additional stacking connections can
be made between adjacent switch units to increase the stacking bandwidth
provided that all redundant stacking links have the same port speed. It is
strongly recommended that the stacking bandwidth be kept equal across all
stacking connections; that is, avoid mixing single and double stacking
connections within a stack. Up to eight redundant stacking links operating at
the same speed can be configured on a Dell Networking N4000 Series stack
unit (four in each direction).
A stack of twelve Dell Networking N4000 Series switches has an aggregate
front panel capacity of 5.760 terabits (not including the 40G ports).
Provisioning for 5% inter-stack capacity requires 280 gigabits of bandwidth
dedicated to stacking or all four 40G ports plus another twelve 10G ports.
Therefore, it is recommended that operators provision large stacking
topologies such that it is unlikely that a significant portion of the stack