Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Administration Guide

5-11
Software Configuration Guide—Release IOS XE 3.6.0E and IOS 15.2(2)SG
OL-30933-01
Chapter 5 Configuring Virtual Switching Systems
Understanding Virtual Switching Systems
• Oversubscribed linecard ports can be used for VSL but total bandwidth requirements of VSL or any
traffic drop because of a certain hashing mechanism must be accounted for before using
oversubscribed linecard ports for VSL.
• VSL ports can have only 10 Gigabit Ethernet port mode on a WS-X4606-X2-E linecard; non-VSL
ports can be configured as 10 or 1 Gigabit Ethernet port mode.
• 1 Gigabit Ethernet ports on line card X4606-X2-E cannot be used as VSL links.
Multichassis EtherChannel Requirements
Physical links from any of the supervisor engines or linecard modules can be used to implement a
Multichassis EtherChannel (MEC).
Understanding VSL Topology
A VSS contains two switches that communicate using the VSL, which is a special port group.
We recommend that you configure at least two of the 10-Gigabit/1-Gigabit Ethernet ports as VSL,
selecting ports from different modules. Figure 5-5 shows a example topology.
Figure 5-5 VSL Topology Example
VSS Redundancy
The following sections describe how redundancy in a VSS supports network high availability:
• Overview, page 5-12
• RPR and SSO Redundancy, page 5-12
• Switch Roles in a VSS, page 5-12
• Failed Switch Recovery, page 5-13
• VSL Failure, page 5-14
• User Actions, page 5-14
VSS Active
In-chassis Standby
Linecard 1
Linecard 2
Linecard N
VSS Standby
In-chassis Standby
Linecard 1
Linecard 2
Linecard N
Active chassis Standby chassis
181326
VSL

Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Specifications

General

Series	Catalyst 4500 Series
Category	Switch
Layer Support	Layer 2, Layer 3
Form Factor	Modular chassis
Stackable	No
Chassis Slots	3, 6, 7, 10
Power Supply Options	AC, DC
Redundancy	Power supply, Supervisor engine
Network Management	Cisco IOS Software CLI, SNMP, Cisco Prime Infrastructure
Features	Security, QoS
Port Density	Up to 384 ports per chassis
Security Features	802.1X, ACLs, DHCP Snooping, Dynamic ARP Inspection, IP Source Guard
Supervisor Engine	8-E