Brocade FastIron GS and GS-STK Hardware Installation Guide - Manual (Page 43)

Brocade FastIron GS and GS-STK Hardware Installation Guide 33
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Installing the device
2
DRAFT: BROCADE CONFIDENTIAL
Installing FastIron GS-STK stackable devices
Install your stackable devices in the same manner as standalone devices. When you have installed
all of your stack devices in a rack or on a table, you will need to cable them together into a stack
topology.
IronStack technology supports linear and ring stack topologies. Figure 30 and Figure 31 on
page 34 show four devices connected in a linear and ring topology, respectively. Although these
illustrations show four devices, you can connect up to eight devices in a single stack.
NOTE
Since you can use either of the two 10Gb ports as stacking ports in any order, your cabling
configuration may differ from that shown in these illustrations.
Use the .5 meter CX4 cables that shipped with each FGS-STK device to connect a linear stack
topology. For a ring topology, you will need an additional, longer (3.0 meter) CX4 cable.
NOTE
The total maximum stacking distance in linear and ring stack topologies is 3,281 feet (1,000 meters
). This length can consist of multiple inter-switch stacking connections adding up to 1,000 meters.
A single inter-switch stacking connection should not exceed 1,000 meters.
For XFP cabling, Table 6 lists the recommended cable lengths for various connection distances.
TABLE 6 XFP Optical Link Cable Distances
Data Rate Fiber Type Modal Bandwidth @
850nm (Mhz-km) Worst case distance range
specified (m) Typical range (m)
9.95-10.3125
Gbps
62.5/125um MMF 160 2 - 26
62.5/1.25um MMF 200 2 - 33
50/125um MMF 400 2 - 66
50/123um MMF 500 2 - 82
50/125um MMF 2000 2 - 300 >400
Average distance range is between 2 - 33 meters. Brocade recommends using the 2000 bandwidth version for
distances greater than 80 meters.