What is switch stacking and why should you use it?

February 6, 2024
Johan Koekemoer
Technical Tips & Guides
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Switch stacking allows you to connect multiple switches and manage from a single interface as if the stack is one expanded switch. Switch stacking improves network scalability, reliability, flexibility, increased bandwidth, and simple networking.

Switch stacking on Aruba Instant On refers to the capability of connecting multiple Aruba Instant On switches, like the 1960 24 Port PoE switches together to operate as a single logical unit. This feature allows you to manage and configure the stacked switches as if they were a single device, providing simplified management and scalability benefits.

Here are the steps to configure the Aruba Instant On switches in stacking mode:

Connect the top switch to the existing network with DHCP and DNS services and an active Internet Connection. The bottom switch is connected to the top switch through port 25 which will be made one of the dedicated stacking ports to ensure that the bottom switch does not lose connection to the cloud during configuration.

From the Aruba Instant On app, you can create a new site or add to an existing site. You will be notified by the app that the switches require an active internet connection to be discovered. You will know that the switches are ready for discovery when the cloud LED light on the switch is alternating between green/amber.

Note: Please allow up to 15 minutes for this process as the switches automatically download and install the latest firmware version.

Once the switches are ready for discovery, you can either add the Serial number or simply scan the QR code from the orange pull-out tab on the switch.

From the devices tile on the app, you can click on each device and rename the devices from the Serial Number to the physical description, i.e., Top Switch and Bottom Switch.

Select the first switch, top switch, tap on the options menu and select create stack. Add the bottom switch to the stack and name the stack.

It is highly recommended to use the built-in 10G ports for our stacking links as well as using at least 2 ports for stacking. In this example, we used the 25 and 26, 10G ports for stacking. From the switch stack scroll down to Ports, select the Aggregation option, click on add link aggregation, tap on ports 25 and 26 and change the Aggregation mode to LACP and tap on Done.

Ensure that the process is completed on both switches. Once done, you can physically connect the two switches on ports 25 and 26. From the Status Tab under ports, on ports 25 and 26, you will see that the switches have been successfully stacked.

Here are a couple of reasons why you should be using switch stacking on Aruba Instant On:

1. Simplified Management: With switch stacking, you can manage multiple switches from a single management interface. This reduces the complexity of managing individual switches.

2. Single Configuration: Stacking enables you to apply configurations, such as VLANs, QoS policies, and security settings, across all switches in the stack simultaneously. This ensures consistency and reduces the risk of misconfigurations.

3. Enhanced resilience: Switch stacking enhances network resilience by allowing for features like ling aggregation and redundancy protocols to be configured across the entire stack. This improves network uptime and reliability.

4. Scalability: As your network grows, you can easily expand your infrastructure by adding more switches to the stack. Up to 4 Aruba Instant On switches can be added to a single stack.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at sales@miro.co.za or 012 657 0960 or technical@miro.co.za.