Netgear XSM4348CS Product Data Sheet - Page 15

ProSAFE® Intelligent Edge Managed Switches Target Application Data Sheet M4300 series Building 1: High Availability (HA) Top-of-Rack Building 2: Edge Ring Stack • For midsize server installations, two half-width M4300 10GbE models can be paired in a single rack space for redundant top-of-rack • Compared with single top-of-rack switch installation, such two-unit horizontal stacking is cost-effective yet highly efficient for HA • Management unit hitless failover and nonstop forwarding ensure no single point of failure for servers and storage equipment • All devices can connect to both redundant top-of-rack switches using link aggregation (L2/L3/L4 LACP) with load-balancing and failover • Variety of 10 Gigabit copper and fiber ports - all backward compatible with 1G speeds - enable any type of virtualization • iSCSI Flow Acceleration and Automatic Protection / QoS enhance server room networks containing iSCSI initiators and iSCSI targets • Any 10 Gigabit copper and fiber ports can be used for stacking, depending on inter-switch links oversubscription requirements • Within the stack, a switch is elected (or chosen based on priority settings) as the "management unit" • The other switch is designated (or chosen based on priority settings) as an alternate, backup management unit • The Nonstop Forwarding (NSF) feature enables the stack to secure forwarding server and storage traffic when the management unit fails: --Power failure of the management unit --Other hardware failure causing the management unit to hang or to reset --Software failure causing the management unit to hang or to reset --Failover initiated by the administrator --Loss of cascade connectivity between the management unit and the backup unit • Instant failover from management unit to redundant management unit is hitless for the servers and storage equipment connecting to both switches using LACP • As the backup management unit takes over, data streams may lose a few packets, but do not lose their IP sessions, such as iSCSI, NFS, CIFS etc... • Other lower end solutions are causing service interruptions across the entire stack without NSF and hitless failover • Back to normal production conditions, hitless failback requires a command in CLI or in GUI, for more control • Hitless failback is automatic in case of new management unit (triggered or accidental) failure • M4300 Virtual Chassis stacking technology upsurges overall network availability, providing better resiliency in network architectures, and better performance with advanced load balancing capabilities between network uplinks • Common for intermediate distribution frames (IDF) in K-12 and other large campuses, stacking topologies greatly simplify deployments at the edge • Up to (8) M4300 switches can be aggregated using a virtual backplane and a single console or web management interface • While reducing the number of logical units to manage, stacking also brings network resiliency with distributed uplinks in aggregation to the core • Horizontal or vertical ring topologies make sense with Gigabit models when inter-switch links oversubscription requirements aren't critical • M4300 PoE and non-PoE versions are highly cost-effective at the edge, with built-in 10GBASE-T and SFP+ fiber uplinks and no hidden costs • Hot swap, redundant power supplies and PoE+ full provisioning are other M4300 unique advantages in this affordable price range • While any 10 Gigabit port can be used for stacking, SFP+ ports can be reserved for fiber uplinks to the core • 10 Gigabit copper ports can be used for local stacking ring topology and unused 10 Gigabit fiber ports can connect remote switches to the stack • Ideally the two top switches connecting back to the core should have priority settings forcing their roles as "management unit" and "backup unit" • This way, management unit hitless failover and nonstop forwarding ensure no single point of failure: --Nonstop Forwarding (NSF) enables the stack to secure forwarding end-user traffic on all other switches when the management unit fails --Instant failover from management unit to backup management unit is hitless for the rest of the stack --Since both the management unit and the backup unit connect to the core using distributed link aggregation (LACP), there is no possible service interruption while the backup management unit takes over --All other switches in the stack keep forwarding L2 and L3 traffic in and out, while backup unit guarantees connectivity to the core • Other lower end solutions are causing service interruptions across the entire stack without NSF and hitless failover • Back to normal production conditions, hitless failback requires a command in CLI or in GUI, for more control • Hitless failback is automatic in case of new management unit (triggered or accidental) failure • M4300 Virtual Chassis stacking technology upsurges overall network availability, providing better resiliency in network architectures, and better performance with advanced load balancing capabilities between network uplinks Page 15 of 49