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How to connect two switches together? Are you looking to expand your network infrastructure and connect multiple switches together? Connecting switches can be achieved through two common methods: cascading and stacking. In this guide, we will explore these two approaches and provide you with the necessary details to make an informed decision.
How to Connect Two Switches Together?
Cascading Switches:
Cascading involves connecting two switches using two twisted-pair cables. It allows you to increase the total number of available ports by combining the ports of both switches. The switches can even be from different manufacturers. To perform cascading, simply connect the ports of the two switches using twisted-pair cables. The switches remain independent devices, utilizing the port redundancy provided by the cascading connection.
Stacking Switches:
Stacking requires switches that support stacking functionality. It involves connecting the two switches through the designated stacking ports located at the back of the devices. To establish a stack, specialized stacking cables (often called "daisy-chain" cables) and stacking modules are used. It is important to note that switches from different manufacturers generally cannot be stacked together. Stacking not only utilizes port redundancy but also leverages the redundant backplane bandwidth, providing significantly increased bandwidth compared to individual switches.
How to Connect Two Switches Together? Key Considerations for Connecting Switches:
Although both stacking and cascading can expand the number of ports available, there are significant differences between the two in terms of logical management, device requirements, connection media, maximum connection capacity, management approach, connection bandwidth, and network coverage range.
Logical Management:
When switches are cascaded, each individual switch or hub remains a separately managed device. In contrast, when switches are stacked, multiple switches become a single managed device.
Device Requirements:
Cascading can be achieved between switches or between switches and hubs from different manufacturers using a single twisted-pair cable. Stacking, however, can only be implemented between devices of the same manufacturer that support stacking functionality.
Connection Media Requirements:
Cascading requires only a single patch cable, while stacking requires specialized stacking modules and stacking cables, which need to be separately purchased.
Maximum Connection Capacity:
In theory, there is no limit to the number of switches that can be cascaded. However, each manufacturer imposes explicit limits on the number of switches that can be stacked within a stack.
Management Approach:
Stacked switches are managed as a single entity, allowing for unified configuration and management of all switches in the stack. In contrast, cascaded switches are treated as independent devices, requiring individual configuration and management for each switch.
Connection Bandwidth:
Cascading multiple switches can lead to cascading bottlenecks and significant forwarding delays. For example, when four 100Mbps switches are cascaded using patch cables, the connection bandwidth between them remains at 100Mbps. Consequently, communication between computers connected to different switches is restricted to this 100Mbps link, creating a bottleneck. Additionally, as the number of forwarding hops increases, network latency also becomes substantial. However, when four switches are stacked together, the stacking cables provide backplane bandwidth greater than 1Gbps, enabling high-speed connections between all switches. Although cascading can utilize link aggregation technology to increase bandwidth between switches, it comes at the expense of available ports.
Network Coverage Range:
Cascading switches can significantly expand the network coverage range. For example, in a twisted-pair network, the diameter of a network covered by a single switch is 100 meters. When two switches are cascaded, the diameter increases to 300 meters, and with three cascaded switches, it can reach 400 meters. Stacking cables, on the other hand, are typically only 0.5 to 1 meter long, serving the purpose of interconnecting switches without affecting the network coverage range.
Wrapping Up
In conclusion, both cascading and stacking provide methods to connect multiple switches together, offering their unique advantages. Cascading is a commonly used approach that requires only twisted-pair cables and provides an easy way to interconnect multiple switches. Stacking offers higher efficiency, convenient port expansion, and significantly improved bandwidth by utilizing dedicated stacking ports and cables.
Remember to consider factors such as the proximity of the devices, desired bandwidth, and the compatibility of switches from different manufacturers. By carefully evaluating these factors, you can ensure a reliable and efficient network infrastructure that supports your growing connectivity demands.
Fixed 10G Up L3 Switch
Fixed 10G Up L2 Switch
Metal Casing
Ceiling AP
NAC Software
Modular Switch
10G Fixed Switch
Wall-Mount AP
Core-side Optical Transceivers
Wi-Fi 5
Wi-Fi 6
EG1500 Series
Wi-Fi 7 Router
Wi-Fi 5 Extender
Wi-Fi 4 Extender
Wi-Fi 4 Router
Service Center
Connect
Try searching our site
Ruijie Networks websites use cookies to deliver and improve the website experience.
See our cookie policy for further details on how we use cookies and how to change your cookie settings.
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When you visit any website, the website will store or retrieve the information on your browser. This process is mostly in the form of cookies. Such information may involve your personal information, preferences or equipment, and is mainly used to enable the website to provide services in accordance with your expectations. Such information usually does not directly identify your personal information, but it can provide you with a more personalized network experience. We fully respect your privacy, so you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies. You only need to click on the names of different cookie categories to learn more and change the default settings. However, blocking certain types of cookies may affect your website experience and the services we can provide you.
Through this type of cookie, we can count website visits and traffic sources in order to evaluate and improve the performance of our website. This type of cookie can also help us understand the popularity of the page and the activity of visitors on the site. All information collected by such cookies will be aggregated to ensure the anonymity of the information. If you do not allow such cookies, we will have no way of knowing when you visited our website, and we will not be able to monitor website performance.
This type of cookie is necessary for the normal operation of the website and cannot be turned off in our system. Usually, they are only set for the actions you do, which are equivalent to service requests, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in, or filling out forms. You can set your browser to block or remind you of such cookies, but certain functions of the website will not be available. Such cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
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