My TN Connection

Network administrators may wish to manage multiple Ethernet switches via a single IP address.  The reasoning for this is if they have a rack of switches and don’t want to remember multiple IP addresses or if they need to reduce the number of IP addresses for devices that are being deployed in their network.

While there is no standard for managing multiple Ethernet switches via a single IP address most manufactures do offer managed switches with this capability.   Some of the names you may see and hear for this concept are Switch Clustering, IP Stacking and Virtual Stack Management to name a few.  The concept is the same across the various manufactures, but it may be implemented in a different manner so you can not manage multiple vendors’ switches via a single IP address since this is not an IEEE standard and each manufacture implements this in a proprietary manner.

The Concept
Stackable technology is a method of grouping switches together to enable centralized management through a single unit via a single IP address.  The stack or cluster of Ethernet switches behave as a single logical unit.   The network administrator needs to specify one of the switches in this stack as a Master (a.k.a Commander) and the other switches in the stack as slaves (a.k.a. Members).  The master switch is used to manage all of the other switches in the stack.   The master switch will automatically create and update all of the switching tables of the stack.  

There are no special tools, extra software or expensive equipment needed to form a stacking workgroup.  As long as the managed Ethernet switch has the option a network administrator can implement this feature.   Some of the benefits of stacking are; it provides a single interface to manage the entire stack (fewer devices to manage), management applications represent the stack as a single device, stackable technology allows you to increase the resiliency and versatility of your network edge to accommodate evolution for converged applications. 

Depending on the switch you can stack anywhere from 2 switches to 36 switches in a single logical stack.  It is also important to note that once a stack is established and working the logical stack can accept new members or delete old ones without service interruption. 

The following figures are an example of a stacking workgroup application and management interface.

A stacking workgroup application

A panel view of a logical stack

View Transition Networks’ entire line of managed Ethernet switches, including those that support logical stacking >>

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.