Daisy Chain vs Individual Connections

[Dominique Demore]

Is there an advantage / performance issues in regards to daisy chaining 2950G to a 3750G-12?

I have attached a little diagrams.

Thanks.

-- Dominique

[konigl]

If performance is the main criteria and the traffic flow is generally to the 3750G-12, then individual connections is the way to go. It's "flatter". However, it provides no alternate pathway in the event of a link failure to one of the 2950G switches, the affected switch is cut off until the uplink can be repaired.

If reliability is the main criteria, then the daisy-chain as you have it drawn in the PDF will give each 2950G an alternate pathway to the 3750G-12 in the event that a link to the 3750G-12 fails. However, users on the middle 2950G switch will have to contend with the the other users on either the top or bottom 2950G switch (whichever one their traffic goes through) to get to the 3750G-12. Whether that contention will actually manifest itself as sluggishness or congestion for the users on that middle switch depends on the traffic load.

[Dominique Demore]

Thanks for your reply.

What I originally wanted to do was has 3 3750-48TS stacked to give me the port density and the number of fiber ports I need. After receiving quotes on the products, our supplier came back with the option of daisy chaining them. I had originaly considered the "flatten", but I wasn't keen on the idea of having only one port left for expansion.

With the option of daisy chaining, it does free up a few additional ports.

I also looked at the 4506 but I can't justify the costs for that equipment.