Dell POWEREDGE M1000E - Manual (Page 96)

76 Access Gateway Administrator’s Guide
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Access Gateway cascading
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Access Gateway cascading
Access Gateway cascading is an advanced configuration supported in Access Gateway mode.
Access Gateway cascading allows you to further increase the ratio of hosts to fabric ports to beyond
what a single switch in AG mode can support.
Access Gateway cascading allows you to link two Access Gateway (AG) switches back to back. The
AG switch that is directly connected to the fabric is referred to as the Core AG. In this document, the
AG switch connected to the device is referred to as the Edge AG.
Figure 16 illustrates Access
Gateway cascading.
.
FIGURE 16 Access Gateway cascading
AG cascading provides higher over-subscription because it allows you to consolidate the number of
ports going to the main fabric. There is no license requirement to use this feature.
Access Gateway cascading considerations
Note the following configuration considerations when cascading Access Gateways:
• Only one level of cascading is supported. Note that several Edge AGs can connect into a single
Core AG to support an even higher consolidation ratio.
• AG trunking between the Edge and Core AG switches is not supported. Trunking between the
Core AG switch and the fabric is supported.
• It is recommended that you enable Advanced Device Security (ADS) policy on all AG F_Ports
that are directly connected to devices.
• APC policy is not supported when cascading.
• Loopbacks (Core AG N_Port to Edge AG F_Port) are not allowed.
• The agshow command issued on the fabric will discover only the Core AG switches. If issued as
agshow --name AG name, then the F_Ports of both the Core and Edge AG switches will be
shown for the Core AG switch.
F_Port
F_ Port
Edge
AG
N_Port
F_Port
F_ Port
N_Port
F_Port
N_Port
F_ Port
Fabric
Core
AG