Blade ICE BLADEOS BMD00178 - Manual (Page 13)

BLADEOS 6.3 Application Guide
BMD00178, April 2010 13
New and Updated Features
BLADEOS 6.3 for 1/10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module (GbESM) has been updated to include
new and enhanced features in support of Virtualization and Fibre Channel over Ethernet.
The list of features below summarizes the updated features. For more detailed information about
configuring GbESM features and capabilities, refer to the complete BLADEOS 6.3 documentation
as listed on
page 3 .
Stacking
A stack is a group of up to eight 1/10Gb Uplink ESM switches with BLADEOS that work together
as a unified system. A stack has the following properties, regardless of the number of switches
included:
The network views the stack as a single entity.
The stack can be accessed and managed as a whole using standard switch IP interfaces.
Once the stacking links have been established (see below), the number of ports available in a
stack equals the total number of remaining ports of all the switches that are part of the stack.
The number of available IP interfaces, VLANs, Trunks, Trunk Links, and other switch
attributes are not aggregated among the switches in a stack. The totals for the stack as a whole
are the same as for any single switch configured in stand-alone mode.
Stacking Requirements
Before BLADEOS switches can form a stack, they must meet the following requirements:
All switches must be the same model (1/10Gb Uplink ESM).
Each switch must be installed with BLADEOS, version 6.3 or later. The same release version is
not required, as the Master switch will push a firmware image to each differing switch which is
part of the stack.
The recommended stacking topology is a bidirectional ring. To achieve this, two external 10Gb
Ethernet ports on each switch must be reserved for stacking.By default, the first two 10Gb
Ethernet ports are used.
The cables used for connecting the switches in a stack carry low-level, inter-switch
communications as well as cross-stack data traffic critical to shared switching functions.
Always maintain the stability of stack links in order to avoid internal stack reconfiguration.