Stacking

Definition

You can connect several Switches over a special Port logically together, which gives you the following opportunities:

• One big Switch with a lots of Ports
• One logical Switch
• You only have to manage one switch
• Minimal latency between the devices

Cisco has three difference techniques, FlexStack, StackWise and GigaStack
!!!Note: It works only between the same series!!!

the difference between FlexStack and StackWise

	Cisco Catalyst 2960-S Stacking	Cisco Catalyst 3750-X StackWise
Device limit	4 units	9 units
Stack bandwidth	10G/20G	32G/64G
Architecture	Hardware drop table	Ring (destination stripping)
Dynamic ring load balancing	No	Yes
Stack convergence	1-2 seconds	Few milliseconds
Stack quality of service (QoS)	Applied hop by hop	Applied on ingress
Management	Single IP address, SNMP, syslog	Single IP address, SNMP, syslog
Configuration	Single config and CLI, auto image and config update	Single config and CLI, auto image and config update
Show and debug commands	Unified	Unified
Single forwarding and control plane	Synchronize Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), MAC address, Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), VLAN tables	Synchronize Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), MAC address, Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), VLAN tables, routing tables
Cross-stack features	Yes	Yes
Single bridge-ID	Yes	Yes
Redundancy	Stack master 1:N redundancy	Stack master 1:N redundancy

Supported Switches

FlexStack

Catalyst 2960 Series

• WS-C2960PD-8TT-L
• WS-C2960-8TC-L
• WS-C2960-24TT-L
• WS-C2960-48TT-L
• WS-C2960-24LT-L
• WS-C2960-24PC-L
• WS-C2960-48PST-L
• WS-C2960-48TC-L
• WS-C2960G-8TC-L
• WS-C2960G-24TC-L
• WS-C2960G-48TC-L

Catalyst 2960-S Series

• WS-C2960S-48FPD-L
• WS-C2960S-48LPD-L
• WS-C2960S-24PD-L
• WS-C2960S-48TD-L
• WS-C2960S-24TD-L
• WS-C2960S-48FPS-L
• WS-C2960S-48LPS-L
• WS-C2960S-24PS-L
• WS-C2960S-48TS-L
• WS-C2960S-24TS-L
• WS-C2960PD-8TT-L
• WS-C2960-8TC-L
• WS-C2960-24TT-L
• WS-C2960-48TT-L
• WS-C2960-24LT-L
• WS-C2960-24PC-L
• WS-C2960-48PST-L
• WS-C2960-48TC-L
• WS-C2960G-8TC-L
• WS-C2960G-24TC-L
• WS-C2960G-48TC-L

!!! Note: You need the C2960S-STACK Module for the Catalyst 2960 and Catalyst 2960-S series!!!

Cables

• CAB-STK-E-0.5M=
• CAB-STK-E-1M=
• CAB-STK-E-3M=

StackWise

Catalyst 3560 Series

• WS-C3560-8PC-S
• WS-C3560-12PC-S
• WS-C3560-24TS-S
• WS-C3560-24TS-E
• WS-C3560-48TS-S
• WS-C3560-48TS-E
• WS-C3560-24PS-S
• WS-C3560-24PS-E
• WS-C3560-48PS-S
• WS-C3560-48PS-E
• WS-C3560G-24TS-S
• WS-C3560G-24TS-E
• WS-C3560G-48TS-S
• WS-C3560G-48TS-E
• WS-C3560G-24PS-S
• WS-C3560G-24PS-E
• WS-C3560G-48PS-S
• WS-C3560G-48PS-E

Catalyst 3750 Series

• WC-C2948G-GE-TX
• WS-C3750G-24TS-E1U
• WS-C3750G-24TS-S1U
• WS-C3750G-24TS-E
• WS-C3750G-24TS-S
• WS-C3750G-24WS-S25
• WS-C3750G-24WS-S50
• WS-C3750G-24T-E
• WS-C3750G-24T-S
• WS-C3750G-12S-E
• WS-C3750G-12S-S
• WS-C3750G-12S-SD
• WS-C3750G-16TD-E
• WS-C3750G-16TD-S
• WS-C3750G-24PS-E
• WS-C3750G-24PS-S
• WS-C3750G-48TS-E
• WS-C3750G-48TS-S
• WS-C3750G-48PS-E
• WS-C3750G-48PS-S
• WS-C3750-48PS-E
• WS-C3750-48PS-S
• WS-C3750-48TS-E
• WS-C3750-48TS-S
• WS-C3750-24PS-E
• WS-C3750-24PS-S
• WS-C3750-24TS-E
• WS-C3750-24TS-S
• WS-C3750-24FS-S

Catalyst 3750-E Series

• WS-C3750E-24TD-S
• WS-C3750E-24TD-SD
• WS-C3750E-24TD-E
• WS-C3750E-48TD-S
• WS-C3750E-48TD-E
• WS-C3750E-48TD-SD
• WS-C3750E-24PD-S
• WS-C3750E-24PD-E
• WS-C3750E-48PD-S
• WS-C3750E-48PD-E
• WS-C3750E-48PD-SF
• WS-C3750E-48PD-EF

Cables

• CAB-STACK-50CM=
• CAB-STACK-1M=
• CAB-STACK-3M=

GigaStack

Catalyst 3550 Series

• WS-C3550-12G
• WS-C3550-12T
• WWS-C3550-24-SMI
• WS-C3550-24PWR-SMI
• WS-C3550-24-DC-SMI
• WS-C3550-24-FX-SMI
• WS-C3550-24-EMI
• WS-C3550-24PWR-EMI
• WS-C3550-48-SMI
• WS-C3550-48-EMI

Catalyst 2950 / 2950G Series

• WS-C2950G-48-EI
• WS-C2950G-24-EI
• WS-C2950G-24-EI-DC
• WS-C2950G-12-EI
• WS-C2950T-24
• WS-C2950C-24
• WS-C2950ST-24-LRE
• WS-C2950ST-8-LRE
• WS-C2950-12
• WS-C2950-24
• WS-C2950SX-24
• WS-C2950T-48-SI
• WS-C2950SX-48-SI

Catalyst 2900-XL Series

• WS-C2912MF-XL
• WS-C2924M-XL

Catalyst 3500-XL Series

• WS-C3508G-XL
• WS-C3512G-XL
• WS-C3524G-XL
• WS-C3548G-XL

!!!Note: You need the GigaStack GBICto connect one to the other!!!