WS-C3850-48XS-S Redundancy Configuration

[Anvar Mohammed]

hi,

we bought 2 x WS-C3850-48XS-S for one of our customer. as usual pre-sales team didn't noticed that 3850 48 ports does not support Stacking. also these model not supports VSS.

so is there a way to configure redundancy with these models of switches ?? like HSRP 

can i configure HSRP as layer-2 as this switch will be added as a vtp client to existing core switch and some access switches will be connected to this new switches .

attached design diagram 

re,

anvar 

[Philip D'Ath · Accepted solution]

It is a real b*tch that Cisco made exactly one model of 3850 that doesn't support stacking.  Naughty Cisco.  If you are releasing products in the same family you must support the same functionality otherwise it causes confusion in the market.

Yes you can use HSRP.  HSRP is a layer 3 technology - you use it to protect the default gateway.

If you are only interested in layer 2 and VTP then just plug them in.  You will have no issues.  You just can't channel across the switches.  If you want redundant links at layer 2 you will have to use rapid spanning tree (you could also use REP [resilient ethernet protocol] if you like a lot of pain).

[respanolcisco]

I was searching the internet of the same concern, i found this post but i also found another reference that might help as well.

For the WS-C3850-48XS-S model it support a StackWise Virtual Link (SVL) instead of the typical stackwise we know. check the link below from Cisco.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3850/software/release/16-3/configuration_guide/b_163_consolidated_3850_cg/b_163_consolidated_3850_cg_chapter_010101001.pdf

FAQ: https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/switches/catalyst-3850-series-switches/q-and-a-c67-738577.pdf