Reasonable number of switches in a loop

[cdeemer]

We have a series of 14 3548s, connected with Gig fiber and Gig copper in an straight line, with no redundancy. I would like to create a loop with another 14 switch series so that all switches would have redundant path incase of a failure. How many switches can I include in a loop?

[efrahim]

There is no hardcord number to connect the 3500Xl but the recommeneded is 7-8 esp. if you are using the Gigastack Gbic because it is easy to troubleshoot the loop issues or all other network problems. like the more the switches in series, the more they are in the trafic has to carry thru all the switches to get the last switch in the stack, which might cause the saturation of the links and drops cause slowness and loop.

http://www.cisco.com/warp/customer/473/150.html#topic1