Question : Best way to connect servers to 3Com switch stack

Hi,

I am putting six 3Com 4200G 24port 10/100/1000 switches into a cusomters site in a few weeks.  They will be connected in a stack using gigabit stacking modules in the dual-personality port bays.  I understand they should be connected in a daisy chain with a link from the top of the stack to the bottom.

I guess my first question is what are the implications of having switches in a stack like this from a bandwidth point of view?  I mean you've got 24 devices on one switch but only one cable linking to the next switch.  And in a stack of six a packet may have to travel through up to two other switches before arriving at the destination switch.  Do the links not create a serious bottle neck?  If so, would there be a significant benefit to using say three 48 port switches in this case, so all switches are effectively 'adjacent'.  I'm just looking for some general information and observations on this point, it's a question I've had in my mind for quite a while.

The main question was abot connecting servers etc. to this stack, though I feel if the above question is answered I can answer this myself.  My thinking here is if the links between switches DO create a serious bottle next then maybe it would make sense to connect say server1 to switch1, server2 to switch2, server3 to switch3, InternetRouter1 to switch4.  That way one particular link isn't going to be saturated because it has all the servers and outbound routes on it.


Hopefully it's clear what I'm asking here.
Thanks

Answer : Best way to connect servers to 3Com switch stack

This is a common setup and I doubt you will saturate a gigabit link unless you have heavy bandwidth applications running on multiple nodes (streaming media, huge file copies, etc.) in which case 3come switches allow you to aggregate links, creating virtual links of multiple gigabit interfaces that are "bonded" so to say as one connection. So you setup 2 or 3 gigabit links as an aggregated link between switches, now you have a 2-3 gig trunk between them.

But that should not be necessary, however I would moreso suggest you consider purchasing a "core" switch, which will work at what is called the "core" layer, it will be a dedicated switch with all sub switches attaching to it. It is much faster and more efficient then daisy chaining "access" layer switches.

Core --> Distribution --> Access Layer

The Access layer is what you have now, you can skip the distribution layer and just install a core switch to attach the others to.

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