Reasons for MLAG on Summits

[Ilya_Semenov]

Hello, everybody!

I am an engineer at partner company and we are going to make a business event for our customers. My presentation is about MLAG on BD8806 with VRRP.

I suppose that I will be asked a question about why there is MLAG on Summit Switches, which could be stacked easily?

Could you please give me some ideas?

Many thanks in advance,

Ilya

[Kawawa]

This very question was asked about a year ago and I believe there are some very insightful responses that came from the community. I hope the following thread can help answer your questions: https://community.extremenetworks.com/extreme/topics/mlag-vs-stack-what-am-i-missing

[Tripathy__Priya]

Please find below this article link which explains the two tier MLAG design in details:

https://gtacknowledge.extremenetworks.com/articles/How_To/Sample-configuration-for-two-tier-MLAG/?q=...

[Erik_Auerswald]

You can even use two SummitStacks to create an MLAG pair. Stacking and MLAG are complementary features.

[Erik_Auerswald]

Hi Ilya,

for example, you can use 8 switches to form 4 MLAG pairs, or you can use two stacks of 4 switches each and create one MLAG pair.

Stacking can be viewed as a method to create a chassis-like virtual switch using standalone switches.

MLAG allows to connect one downstream device, e.g. a server, to two independent upstream devices using port sharing (aka LAG or port-channel).

Why would you set up MLAG between two chassis switches, if you can more easily use two modules inside the chassis for redundant connections?

Erik