White Papers

Stacking
Stacking provides a single point of management and network interface controller (NIC) teaming for high availability and higher
throughput.
Stacking is supported on the 10 GbE data ports of Ethernet module. Stacking is not supported on Fibre Channel/Ethernet
Universal Port Modules. You can connect up to six S5000 switches in a single stack using port cables; no special cabling is
required.
For information about the High Availability features supported on a stacked S5000 switch, refer to the High Availability (HA)
chapter.
NOTE: You cannot stack an S5000 switch with other S-Series switches.
Topics:
• Stacking S5000 Switches
• Configuring an S5000 Switch Stack
•
Configuring Stacking Ports and Bringing Up a Stack
• Provisioning a Stack Unit
• Converting Four 10 GbE Ports to 40 GbE Ports for Stacking
• Removing a Stack Group from Stacking Mode
• Remove a Switch from a Stack
• Adding a Stack Unit
• Adding a Standalone Switch to a Stack
• Merging Two Stacks
• Split a Stack
• Managing Redundant Stack Management
• Resetting a Unit on a Stack
• Verify a Stack Configuration
• Troubleshooting a Switch Stack
Stacking S5000 Switches
A stack of S5000 switches operates as a virtual chassis with management units (master and standby) and member units.
The Dell Networking OS operating software elects a primary (master) and secondary (standby) management unit; all other units
are member units. The forwarding database resides on the master switch; all other stack units maintain a synchronized local
copy. Each unit in the stack makes forwarding decisions based on their local copy.
The following illustration shows an example of how you can stack four S5000 switches and the role played by each switch in the
stack. Connect the S5000 switches to operate as a single stack using only 10 GbE ports on Ethernet pluggable modules. Notice
that the four 10GbE ports in a stack group on one switch are connected to the four 10 GbE ports in a stack group on a peer
stacked switch in order to maximize throughput. For more information, refer to Supported Stacking Topologies.
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