Stacking The Switches - Cisco CBS Series Get To Know

Stacking the Switches

port. The IP address assigned to this port cannot be assigned to the in-band ports at the same time. In addition,
it must not belong to any IP subnet configured at the in-band interfaces of the devices.
By default, the OOB port is configured with a default IP address 192.168.1.254. This default IP address is
used when no other address is assigned (dynamically or statically). This subnet is a reserved one and cannot
be assigned on the in-band interfaces.
Stacking the Switches
A stack can have multiple devices in it. Any 10G port of the switch can be used for stacking.
By default, the ports on the switch function as regular Ethernet ports, except if you configure them to do
stacking. You cannot mix the stack speeds between the switches or ports.
At least two ports must be chosen for stacking in a given switch" and those ports must be 10Gig speed. For
two switches or more to form a stack, they must be running the same version of the firmware. This is the more
reason SG series switches cannot be stacked with CBS series switches. CBS250 series switches do not have
stacking capabilities.
Some switches have their stack LEDs numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4 to indicate Active, Standby, and Member while
the others types use the system LED flashing behavior to describe the same thing.
Note Stack ports must have the same speed capability on the module or cable plug in.
The switch can only be stacked without Mesh topology. The switches in the same stack are connected together
through their stack ports. Depending on the type of stack ports and the desired speed, you may need Cat6a
Ethernet cables or Cisco approved modules or cables for the switches.
Stack Management
The Cisco Business switches have a couple of different stacking modes and you can stack different models.
Also you need to note what feature may of may not be available in different stacking modes (native or hybrid).
• Native Stacking - The switch is part of a stack in which all of the units are of the same type.
• Hybrid Stacking – The switch is part of a stack that can consist of either mixed types of CBS350 devices.
Feature Support on Hybrid Mode
The feature set of the CBS350 SKUs with 10G network ports and the feature CBS350 SKUs with 10G uplink
ports are nearly identical. However, there are a few differences in feature support and table sizes between the
2 "sub-types". The Cisco Business switches hybrid stack mode will support the lower denominator for these
features/tables The following table lists the feature differences between the 2 sub-types and the setting applied
in hybrid mode:
Hybrid mode works in any combination of stacking albeit reduced performance, MAC table size for example
can be reduced; but switches of the same model number (same PID) can take advantage of native stacking
mode. Some switches with different PID can stack in native mode as well, other combinations, however, can
only stack in hybrid mode.
Get To Know Your Switch
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Get To Know Your Switch