Switch Stacking Tutorial of 48-port Stackable Switch

As switch stacking, the premium feature of few network switches, evolves as a core competence of Ethernet switches in the market, vendors strives to release varies stackable switches and produce switch stacking tutorials for customers. This post will take FS S3900-48T4S 48-port stackable switch as an example to explore how to stack switches together..

Introduction to FS S3900 48T4S 48-port Stackable Switch

Port density and Scalability

S3900 48T4S 48-port gigabit switch comes with 48 downlink RJ45 ports that are triple speed copper ports connecting with end-devices and four 10Gbps SFP+ uplink ports that connect toward the core of the network. With 176Gbps switching capacity. This network switch delivers wire-speed switching performance on all Gigabit ports which support auto-negotiation for port speed and duplex mode. The 4 built-in 10G SFP+ ports provide uplink flexibility, allowing the insertion of fiber or copper, Gigabit or 10G transceivers. These 10Gbps SFP+ port can work as both uplinks and stacking links to servers or service provider, corporate, or campus networks, reducing bottlenecks and increasing the performance of the access network.

Reliability and Energy Efficiency

The dual power supply can ensure the effectiveness of mission-critical network. If one power supply fails for some reason, the other one will take over seamlessly to sustain the normal running of network. Moreover, the design of the S3900 48-port stackable switches incorporates high energy efficiency in order to reduce the impact on the environment. The fan is smart controlled by the traffic. When the switch runs busy, the fan inevitably generates much noise which, however, won’t cause distress. The Green Ethernet power-saving features can be translated into that, on an inactive link, the port moves into inactive mode and saves power while keeping the administrative status of the port up.

How to Stack 48-Port Gigabit Switch?

The S3900 48T4S 48-port network switch can allow up to six switch being stacked together, in which it excels S3800 series switches. Use DAC, AOC or transceiver modules plus fiber optic cable can simply join the switches together. Only the rightmost two SFP+ ports on the switch can be used to stack, and should be cross linked, as shown in the following picture.

How to Manage Switch Stacks Effectively?

Managing switch stacks is also not an easy work because there is a set of network switches in one stack unit. As for the S3900-48T4S stackable switch, an industry-standard command-line interface (CLI), accessed through the console port or Telnet*, provides a familiar web user interface and command set for users to manage the switch. Moreover, just one command and a reboot* can realize switch stacking, more convenient than common switch stacking. An embedded user-friendly web interface helps users to quickly check and manage the 48-port managed switch.

*Note 1: in stacking process, you need to pull and plug the console cable into each 48-port managed stackable switch repeatedly. By contrast, keep telnet cable connected with one switch is enough.

*Note 2: the one being restarted firstly is the stack master.

Conclusion

The S3900 48T4S 48-port stackable switch, born in this era where high speed network is badly needed, is an ideal Gigabit access switch for SMB, enterprise, and campus networks to boost productivity. And it is ideal for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Multiple System Operators (MSOs) to provide home users with triple-play services with up to Gigabit bandwidth.