Blackdiamond Series VSS or IRF or ?

[ibrahim_tutuk]

Blackdiamonds 8000 does it support features such as VSS or IRF ? I mean , Blackdiamond 8000 does it stack can be as a single switch ? I read MLAG+VRRP solution but not seem stack structure,VSS,IRF . Is it right ? Thanks

[ibrahim_tutuk]

thank you very much

[Zdeněk_Pala]

actually only 800-series, D2-series, BlackDiamond-series, X430 series does NOT support any kind of Stacking/VSB in the form discussed above.

the rest of actual portfolio does support it. Check the VSB or Stacking feature.

It is supported on:
A/B/C series
71xx series
X440 up to X770 series
S/K-series

regards

Zdenek

[ibrahim_tutuk]

thank you for your response. But our customer needs two switch bonded as a stack structure. Is it possible or not ? I think, S series switch support this , blackdiamond not supported .Is it right ?

[Zdeněk_Pala]

Hi,

my point of view:

what is the benefit of Stacking/VSS/IRF?

I see following reasons:
- only one IP address to manage = is it real benefit?
- only one configuration = is it real benefit? if I do mistake i do it on whole system = no chance that the other half will save me.
- only one system for link aggregation = MLAG does the job for me

I see following disadvantages:
- only one system for firmware upgrade = all units must have the same firmware = you can not run two different codes. Hit less firmware upgrade is not available from any version to any version = in reality upgrade of the "one system" means reboot very often.
- the Stacking/VSS/IRF feature itself is SPoF = if the process dies you are in trouble. I have seen so many complains from early adopters of buggy implementations in the past on VSS technology

My summary:
With MLAG and VRRP you have fully redundant network. With network management you can orchestrate more devices with one click = this is even better than one system by CLI

regards

Zdenek