Dell 7000 Series manual Introduction, Applicability, Stacking and Management

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Stacking Dell PowerConnect 7000 Series Switches

Introduction

This white paper explains the purpose and operation of the stacking feature in the Dell™ PowerConnect™ 7000 Series Gigabit Ethernet switches. The PowerConnect 7000 series is Dell’s most advanced switching product line, offering advanced switching capabilities including high-density, high- performance stacking, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet capabilities that scale from the small business to the Enterprise Edge. Stacking allows multiple switching units to be combined together to act as a single, high-performance, highly resilient switching unit with a single management interface. Units can be added to increase throughput as needed. With each stack unit supporting up to 184 Gbps in switch capacity, the customer can have almost 2 terabits of capacity in a single stack.

In addition, stacks can be composed of an interchangeable mix of PowerConnect 7000 Series switches and PowerConnect M6348 switches, enabling administrators to continue to leverage the full utility of previous-generation switches while transitioning to the latest-generation equipment. See “Mixing M6348 and PC7000 Series Switches in a Stack” on page 5.

Applicability

This paper applies to the PowerConnect 7000 series switches, which includes the PC7024, PC7048, PC7024P, PC7048P, PC7024F, PC7048R, and PC7048R-RA Dell model numbers. Each PowerConnect switch has two bays that can be customized to support a stacking or an uplink configuration. Each bay can contain a CX-4, SFP+, or a 10GBase-T module. Stacking is supported only on CX-4 modules in either or both bays. CX-4 stacking modules can be configured in 16 Gbps stacking mode or 10 Gbps Ethernet uplink mode. CX-4 stacking modules default to stacking mode, where the maximum cable length is

3 meters. When the stacking modules are configured to operate in Ethernet mode, the maximum cable length is 12 meters.

The PCM6348 has two 10 Gbps SFP+ ports, and two separate 10 Gbps Ethernet ports that support CX-4 modules for stacking.

The following table summarizes the features of the PowerConnect 7000 series and PCM6348 switches.

Part Number

Gigabit Ethernet

Gigabit Ethernet

Modules

Other

 

Ports (RJ-45)

Ports (SFP)

(Stacking, SFP+,

Features

 

 

 

10GBASE-T)

 

PCM6348

161

2

4

 

PC7024

24

42

2

 

PC7024P

24

42

2

PoE4

PC7024F

4

24

2

 

PC7048

48

43

2

 

PC7048P

48

43

2

PoE4

PC7048R/ PC7048R-RA

48

43

2

Top-of-Rack5

1.The PCM6348 also has 32 internal ports that connect to server blades in a chassis.

2.Shared with ports 21–24.

3.Shared with ports 45–48.

4.Each copper port can provide up to 30W of power to an external powered device.

5.The difference between the PC7048R and PC7048R-RA switches is the airflow direction.

Stacking and Management

An important advantage of stacking is that it provides a consolidated interface for management of multiple switches when linked together. When a stack is already deployed in the network, operators can add units to the stack as their port requirements increase, with minimal administrative overhead

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Contents Stacking Dell PowerConnect Series Switches Dell Technical White PaperStacking Dell PowerConnect 7000 Series Switches Contents Applicability IntroductionStacking and Management Stacking and Performance Stacking and RedundancyDual Stacking Modules Configured in a Ring Mixing M6348 and PC7000 Series Switches in a Stack Power-Up Sequencing ConsiderationsConsole#boot auto-copy-sw allow-downgrade Initial Installation and Power-up of a Stack Selecting the Master Unit Selecting the Standby UnitAutomatic Update Updating the Firmware on a StackManual Update Creating a Separate Vlan for File Downloads FTPFrom the Switching Vlan Vlan Membership page, click Add Navigate to the Routing IP IP Interface Configuration Page Stacking Dell PowerConnect 7000 Series Switches Click Apply Adding a Stack Member with Minimal Interruption Removing a Stack Member with Minimal Interruption Master Failover Merging Two Operational StacksEffect of Master Failover on PoE Devices Failover Scenarios Stack Member FailoverScenario Stack Split Stack Split with Manager Failure Nonstop Forwarding Initiating a Warm Failover of the Manager Unit Nonstop Forwarding ScenarioNonstop Forwarding Example NSF Scenario Configuration via CLI RouterStack Switch Switch NSF Example NSF Re-convergence Timing Parameter TimingStacking CLI Commands Small ConfigurationStacking Web Interface Summary