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aquire
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SwOS Stacking

Tue Oct 18, 2022 5:02 pm

Is there any intention of releasing a SwOS with stacking functionality? Is it available on RoS?
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Wed Oct 19, 2022 10:31 pm

Confirm what you mean by "stacking" is that multiple physical switches would function and be managed as if they were a single larger switch.

That capability does not exist in Switch OS and as far as I know, not in RouterOS either. I have not heard of any plans to add that capability. It would be nice - I have a use for that...
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Thu Oct 20, 2022 1:35 am

You can do bridge port extension, in supported models in Router OS. This gets you the same management that stacking in the Cisco/Juniper/HP world. Its an industry standard too.

https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ ... t+Extender

You loose a lot of features, so just make sure your design really needs it.
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Thu Oct 20, 2022 1:48 am

OK, you can do it in RouterOS. Learn something new every day...
Not that it does me any good without replacing my CSS326 switches with CRS326 switches (not in the plan).
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Thu Oct 20, 2022 2:00 am

I honestly cannot see many real uses for it, aside from ticking a box on a design spec. With the 100gb switch not listed in supported (maybe it does work and the document is old) you really limited on real throughput.

I'll stick with my spine and leaf for now.
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Thu Oct 20, 2022 2:12 am

I honestly cannot see many real uses for it, aside from ticking a box on a design spec. With the 100gb switch not listed in supported (maybe it does work and the document is old) you really limited on real throughput.

I'll stick with my spine and leaf for now.
Looks like it maybe supported.
https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ ... rtExtender
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Thu Jun 29, 2023 2:58 am

Anyone aware of coming release to support extended ports to be bondable?

Per what is not yet supported between 2 switch....

One of the probably most important feature. When this is going to be available mikrotik will explodes their sales
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Mon Jul 17, 2023 4:29 pm

I honestly cannot see many real uses for it, aside from ticking a box on a design spec.
The simplest and most common use of such feature would be LACP spanned across 2 different, physical switches. In CISCO world it is called vPC. I am also eagerly looking for implementing multi-chassis port agreggation in SwOS - in RouterOS it is possible:
https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ ... tion+Group
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:05 pm

I honestly cannot see many real uses for it, aside from ticking a box on a design spec. With the 100gb switch not listed in supported (maybe it does work and the document is old) you really limited on real throughput.
My data cabinet at home now has two CSS326-24G-2S switches. I have two in there because I ran out of ports on the first one. Replacing the first switch with a CRS354 was WAY too much money to seriously consider. Between the two of there, there are currently 7 GigE ports and two SFP ports free. I would love to have them behave as a single switch.
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:48 pm

I think you can achieve your goal by connecting these 2 switches with 2 DAC (10 Gbps, Twinax) cables (with no extra GbE port needed) and run LACP between devices (20 Gbps) or is there something I am missing in your setup? Of course, still 2 separate devices (2 IP addresses) but with much better port utilization. In my case I would like to have one LACP port on switch #1 and second LACP port on switch #2 - without implementing some special solutions like vPC it is not possible.
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Mon Jul 17, 2023 6:08 pm

Tying the two CSS326 switches together is easy. However they are still entirely treated as two separate switches from a management perspective. The other part is bigger. When there was just one switch in the data cabinet, it had a single 1GigE connection to another CSS326 in my family room. Eventually that was going to become two in LAG - but that has not happened (yet). If I have what appears to be a single larger switch in the data cabinet, I do exactly the same thing. However since it really is two switches, and both need to communicate with the family room switch, I have to be aware of preventing creation of a network loop - or run something like RSTP to manage that. Certainly doable, just one more complication. Several other ways to accomplish it...

At least as I understand it, with switch stacking, the two switches would completely behave as if they were a single larger switch. both from a management and operational perspective.

On the other hand, having them treated as two completely separate switches does give the advantage of some degree of redundancy in the event one switch fails - at least some stuff stays working. That fact is not lost on me....
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Mon Jul 17, 2023 7:14 pm

Despite all of that I still don't get why you didn't interconnect switches with at least 1 x 10 Gb twinax cable instead of 7 x 1 GbE interfaces...
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Mon Jul 17, 2023 7:30 pm

Despite all of that I still don't get why you didn't interconnect switches with at least 1 x 10 Gb twinax cable instead of 7 x 1 GbE interfaces...
Where did you get the idea that I am connecting the two switches with 7 x 1 GbE connections? They are connected with a single 1 GigE connection - which is plenty for my home network. The only time I come close to loading that up is when I back up my server (in the data cabinet) to an external hard drive on the family room PC every Friday and Monday night.

Or did you read my statement that there are 7 free (unused) ports to mean that I was connecting the two switches with 7 connections? I was trying to state that of the 48 GigE ports on the two switches, 41 of the 48 ports are in use - leaving 7 free (unused). Hence my need for more than a 24 port switch.
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Mon Jul 17, 2023 11:36 pm

Tying the two CSS326 switches together is easy. However they are still entirely treated as two separate switches from a management perspective.
In ROS this is supported as port extender. It only works with select devices as Controller Bridge and select devices as Port Extender. And it does seem that all frsme processing is actually done by CB device which means huge utilization of CB-PE interconnection and necessity for very capable switch chip in CB.
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Mon Jul 17, 2023 11:43 pm

Not an option for me since all three switches in this reference are CSS326. And for switches, I really prefer SwitchOS...
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Mon Jul 17, 2023 11:45 pm

Or did you read my statement that there are 7 free (unused) ports to mean that I was connecting the two switches with 7 connections?
Yes, that's what I understood from your post. I am not native English speaker so forgive me... :D
 
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Re: SwOS Stacking

Mon Jul 17, 2023 11:53 pm

Or did you read my statement that there are 7 free (unused) ports to mean that I was connecting the two switches with 7 connections?
Yes, that's what I understood from your post. I am not native English speaker so forgive me... :D
I can assure you that your English is better than my ability to speak your language!

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