Dell Force10 MXL Blade - Stacking; Overview; Stacking MXL 10;40 Gbe Switches

Stacking | 545
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Stacking
Overview
Stacking is supported on a MXL 10/40GbE Switch on the 40GbE ports (for the base module) or a 2-Port
40GbE QSFP+ module. You can connect up to six MXL 10/40GbE Switches in a single stack. Stacking
provides a single point of management and network interface controller (NIC) teaming for high availability
and higher throughput.
This chapter contains the following sections:
• Stacking MXL 10/40GbE Switches
• Stack Group/Port Numbers
• Configuring a Switch Stack
• Verifying a Stack Configuration
• Troubleshooting a Switch Stack
• Upgrading a Switch Stack
• Upgrading a Single Stack Unit
Stacking MXL 10/40GbE Switches
A stack of MXL 10/40GbE Switches operates as a virtual chassis with management units (primary and
standby) and member units. The Dell Force10 operating software (FTOS) 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.
Figure 31-1 shows an example of how you can stack four MXL 10/40GbE Switches and the role played by
each switch in the stack. The MXL 10/40GbE Switches are connected to operate as a single stack in a ring
topology using only the 40GbE ports on the base modules. You can use the 40GbE ports on the base
module and FlexIO modules to create a stack in either a ring or daisy-chain topology.