Catalyst 9300 Stack power wit 8 switches

[dm2020]

Hi All,

I need to setup an 8-member Catalyst 9300 switch stack that will use Stackpower. I'm aware that a Stackpower ring is limited to 4-member switches, so in my scenario I need to configure two Stackpower rings, however, I cant find any clear cabling guides to achieve this. Does anyone have an example cabling diagram for this please?

Thanks

[Mark Malone]

Hi
Just an option , instead of trying an unsupported design why not stack power in star topology then you can have all 8


A switch power stack can include a maximum of four switches in a ring topology and eight switches in
a star topology.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst9300/hardware/install/b_c9300_hig/b_c9300_hig_chapter_010.pdf

[dm2020]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the response, however, doesn't a star topology require an RPS? If so, I dont have one of these available so I'm limited to forming stack power rings.

Thanks

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi,

That is correct. If you had an RPS, you could connect up to  9 switches to it, but since you don't have one you are limited to a ring topology using power staking cables.

HTH

[Mark Malone]

Yes Reza got back before me :) it does as he and you stated require RPS and i dont want to advise on a power setup i haven't put in place so maybe someone else can shine a light if its possible to do 8 switches somehow even unsupported but personally i would have split the stack into 2 blocks of 4 and dual linked everything back to each of them or gone with a star , one thing about having an unsupported design if you ever have an issue Cisco they will unlikely support it through TAC

[Reza Sharifi · Accepted solution]

I agree with Mark. There should be 2 sets of 4.

HTH

[Reza Sharifi · Accepted solution]

Also, please remember that power stacking is not a UPS solution and does not protect you against power failure to the whole stack. It only protects you if someone accidentally unplugs one or 2 of the switches from the wall outlet or PDU. 

HTH

[j.a.m.e.s]

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@Reza Sharifi wrote:

I agree with Mark. There should be 2 sets of 4.

HTH

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Hi Reza,

Do you mean that in the absence of an XPS, 2 powerstacks of 4x 9300s within a datastack of 8x 9300s is a valid configuration? I believe this is the case, but I couldn't find much documentation around it or any user feedback. I really would like to exceed 4 stack members, but the XPS doesn't appeal much.

Regards

James.