Packet tracer switching redundancy

[itsrick]

Hi, my question is how do i make the switches on the the 4 2960 switches redundant what is the best way to go at this?

a screenshot has been provided!

[Seb Rupik]

Hi there,

STP will control traffic flows on your network.

Make sure the multi-layer switch on the right (MLS01) is the STP root-bridge for VLAN10,20,30 and 99. Make the multi-layer switch (MLS02) on the left the secondary root-bridge.

For your access layer switches, the links to MLS02 will be in a blocking state.

Configure HSRP for all VLANs with, give MLS01 the higher priority so it is the active router. Trunk all VLANs between MLS01 and MLS02 so that the HSRP process can communicate.

In the event of MLS01 failing, STP will reconverge and the left-hand access layer links will start forwarding and MLS02 will become the HSRP forwarder.

It is worth noting that in this state you will have no link to the router. I suggest you configure layer 3 links from MLS01 and MLS02 to the router. If you don’t have enough interfaces on the router then position a switch above the MLS switches so they can both communicate with the router.

Cheers,

Seb.

[itsrick]

yes thanks however only the regular switches need to be redundant in this case its not needed for the MLS

[Seb Rupik]

In which case just ignore the last paragraph of my first post.

Given the STP topology, I agree with @paul driver comment about distributing the HSRP active router between the MLS's for each VLAN, ie: MLS01 configured with highest HSRP priority for VLANs 10 and 99. MLS02 configured with highest priority for VLANs 20 and 30.

It is worth noting that for optimal forwarding you will want to move the VLAN root-bridge to the MLS switch with the highest HSRP priority for each respective VLAN.

cheers,

Seb.

[paul driver]

Hello

Are the core switches aable to be stacked  or vss 

if not @Seb Rupik had a good solution to apply some first hop redundancy such as hrsp 

would also like to suggest to spilt the hrsp  vlans priority so the left hand vlans are going to the left core switch and right hand vlans are going to the right hand core and have either other as standby