FEC on different switches

[scolombo]

We're evaluating a possible FT configuration.

We'll have two 6509 backbone switches connected each other with supervisor's Gb ports.

We plan to have workgroups switches connected to each backbone switches with Gb link for fault tolerant.

What we are unsure of is if we can load balance workgroup switches' traffic through uplinks or ,because of spanning tree , one of the backbone switch will be unused .

In other word : can we configure FEC on workgroup' switches using two different uplink switches ( the two 6509 )

[efrahim]

You can;t create the etherchannal across two different switches.

If you looking for load balancing, please use the port pro parameter in the spannning tree to load balance as mentioned in the following URL

http://www.cisco.com/warp/customer/473/15.html

Also please make sure that the HSRP is also configured to match your load balancing and if you are considering for even or oldd vlans ,

http://www.cisco.com/warp/customer/473/16.html

please make sure to configure cam aging time properly to minimize the unicast flooding

http://www.cisco.com/warp/customer/473/143.html

[scolombo]

On the backbone side , the two cat 6509 , we'll have several servers directly connected with Gb links.

Each server will have two Gb NIC and we thought to connect them one on each CAT 6509 and configure them in LB ( not FEC ) .

Would this not work as well ? Will we have to connect both NICs of each server to the same CAT ?

Would a configuration as above work in FT ( fault tolerant ) ?

[rfroom]

You can use different STP topologies for each VLAN. This will prevent a STP blocked from being totally un-utilizied.