We’re getting ready to refresh a significant number of edge closets and are looking to change up a few things. Our primary goals are:
- Support 2.5/5gbps links for our WAPs.
- Reduce/eliminate total downtime of the wired network and wireless network
- Save money
The current thought is to do something like the following:
- Place 2 higher-end switches capable of multi-gigabit links to handle the WAPs (max ~20 APs/closet)
- Fill out the remaining port needs with lower-end PoE switches
The question is, what’s the best way to accomplish the first 3 points following the second two. My initial thought would be to take the two higher-end switches (either 5520s or x465s) and set them up as an MLAG and the lower-end switches (either x440s or v400s) as a “stack” (with the understanding that V400s don’t actually stack and assuming that V400s can be uplinked to an MLAG). This should allow any one of the 3 entities to go down for whatever reason (hopefully just firmware updates) without taking the other 2 down.
Diagram of what I think is a good idea until people tell me why I’m being dumb:
Am I missing anything? I understand that nothing benefits from the MLAG except for the stack and the uplink to the core. Is there a better way to accomplish what I’m after?
