How does 3Com SuperStack 3 stacking work?

[lambent]

I want to know the behaviour and mechanism of the stacking.
What does it do actually?
Does it just simply form a single logical switch unit or can it share memory and cpu resource among the switches?
And what if one of the switch goes down? Will all the ports in that switch go down too?

Thx for help.

 

[awj]

Depends on which product.

The 3300 stacking works as though the stack is one single unit, in regards to management so 1 IP address. CPU and memory are not shared. If one unit goes down then the other units still work, but really it depends which unit goes down. For example if the unit with the module that links the stack to the main core network goes down the stack loses connectivity to the core, but local users can still work.

The 4400 has a different stacking architecture, more of a ring system so if 1 unit goes down, then the others still remain in the stack, also there is a hot swap option for the stacking kit, so you can add and remove units in the stack without causing the other units to go down.

 

[lambent]

Thanks for help