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towelboy

4 Posts

9989

January 26th, 2006 13:00

3448 stacking ports - minimum cable requirements?

I need to set up a stack with 6 3448P switches. I will use the G3 and G4 copper ports for this. In the docs, it says to connect with a "category 5" cable. Does this mean that the stack loop only needs to run at 100Mbit?

2 of my switches are in a remote closet, and I hope to complete the loop using fiber to copper media converters back to my data center (about 200 meters). If the stack loop MUST be gigabit and requires cat 5e cabling, I will get the more expensive gigabit media converters, otherwise, I can save several hundred dollars using 100Mbit media converters.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

DELL-GregG

812 Posts

January 26th, 2006 14:00

A stack cannot be configured with six 3448P switches. From the User's Guide:
 
"Up to six devices or up to 192 ports are supported per stack"
 
When using only 48 port switches, a total of 4 switches can be stacked. A stack can be any combination of 24 and 48 port switches such that the total number of (10/100) ports does not exceed 192.
 
If you want to stack the switches to ease of management, I would suggest creating two separate stacks. One stack with the 4 switches in your datacenter, and one stack with the 2 switches in your closet. You can then uplink the two stacks using fiber.
 
The stack management protocol is very high priority. I would not recommend using fiber runs and media converters to combine switches in a stack.

towelboy

4 Posts

January 26th, 2006 16:00

Thanks for the info.

But, if the stack management protocol is high priority, why does the user guide say to use a cat 5 cable? If the stack protocol requires more bandwidth, why not require cat 5e cabling for the stack? I am trying to find out if that is a mistake in the user manual.

DELL-GregG

812 Posts

January 26th, 2006 18:00

By "high priority", I did not necessarily mean "high bandwidth". The stack management protocol is responsible for keeping the stack functioning as a single logical device. When using long cable runs (copper or fiber) and media converters, you open the possibility for physical layer problems such as interference, signal loss, and NeXT. These physical layer problems could cause communication issues with the stack management protocol which could result in abnormal stack function.

Due to the increased quality, I would recommend using Cat5e or Cat6 cabling. I would also recommend that you use the shortest length of cable necessary to connect the stack members.

I have requested information from our engineers as to whether the stack ports operate at 100Mbps or 1Gbps. I will update this post when I receive confirmation.

DELL-GregG

812 Posts

January 27th, 2006 10:00

Our engineers confirmed that the stacking ports operate at 1Gbps.

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