Concept Guide

Cabling the Switch Stack
Dell PowerEdge FN I/O Aggregators are connected to operate as a single stack in a ring topology using the SFP+ or Base-T ports on the
front end ports 9 and 10. To create a stack in either a ring or daisy-chain topology, you can use two units on the same chassis or up to six
units across multiple chassis.
Prerequisite: Before you attach the stacking cables, all Aggregators in the stack must be powered up with the default or recongured
settings.
To connect stacking ports, use only SFP+ transceivers, SFP+ cables and BaseT and its supported cables (separately purchased). For
example:
1 Insert a cable in port 9 on the rst aggregator.
2 Connect the cable to port 10 on the next aggregator.
3 Continue this pattern on up to 6 aggregators.
4 Connect a cable from port 9 on the last aggregator to port 10 on the rst aggregator. This creates a ring topology.
NOTE: The resulting topology allows the stack to function as a single switch with resilient failover capabilities.
Accessing the CLI
To congure a stack, you must access the stack master in one of the following ways.
• For remote out-of-band management (OOB), enter the OOB management interface IP address into a Telnet or secure shell (SSH)
client and log in to the switch using the user ID and password to access the CLI.
• For local management, use the attached console connection to the master switch to log in to the CLI. Console access to the stack CLI
is available on the master only.
• For remote in-band management from a network management station, enter the virtual local area network (VLAN) IP address of the
management port and log in to the switch to access the CLI.
Conguring and Bringing Up a Stack
After you attach the cables in a stack of Aggregators, perform the following steps to congure and bring up the stack:
1 Set up a connection to the CLI on an Aggregator as described in Accessing the CLI.
2 Connect the terminal to the console port on an Aggregator. Enter the following commands to access the CLI and congure the base
module ports for stacking mode:
Login: username
Password: *****
Dell> enable
Dell# configure
Dell(conf)# stack-unit 0 iom-mode stack
Where stack-unit 0 denes the default stack-unit number in the initial conguration of a switch.
3 Save the stacking conguration on the SFP+ or 10G Base-T ports:
Dell# write memory
4 Reboot the Aggregator by entering the reload command in EXEC Privilege mode:
Dell# reload
Repeat the above steps on each Aggregator in the stack by entering the stackunit 0 iom-mode stack command and saving the
conguration.
Stacking
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