Cisco Cat 9500 stacking and high availability

[abee]

Hello,

I have a pair of Cat 9500 and Network essential license.  As I know there will be VRRP available to use with that licnese. I'd like to ask when both switches connect as a Stack switch, do I have to worry about the HA since they are acting as a single switch? I'm a little confuse on those area.

[nazimkha]

Catalyst 9500 support stackwise virtual and work like a single switch So you wont require a First Hop Routing Protocol like HSRP or VRRP

[abee]

Hello,

we have network essential license on our switches, so that stackwise virtual is not an option for us. :(

[Scott Hodgdon]

Abee,

If you have Essentials then there is no connecting as a stack switch. Only when using StackWise Virtual (SWV) will two 9500s be seen as a single entity from a forwarding perspective. When using VRRP, the two 9500s are still independent forwarding entities and must be treated as such.

Cheers,
Scott

[abee]

Just want to confirm with the Essential license, I can't do stack switch and we have to treat them as independent switches?  That's mean if i want to connect a host, I have to connect that host to both switches to get redundancy? 

[Scott Hodgdon]

Abee,

Correct. No SWV with Essentials.

Cheers,
Scott

[Deepak Kumar]

Hi,

Be more clear is it StackWise virtual SWV? If yes then both switches having shared managment but forwarding panel will be differently. So you need to use the VRRP.