Four SuperStack II Switch 1100 or Switch 3300 units can be interconnected to form a stack that offers unrivaled performance and management features.

Each unit has a built-in connector at the rear of the unit called the matrix port. Two units can be connected back-to-back with a SuperStack II Switch matrix cable. To connect more than two units, a SuperStack II matrix module can be inserted into the high-speed module slot of one of the units in the stack, and a matrix cable can be used to connect to each switch in the stack.

Stacking provides the user with a plethora of benefits. These include the ability to manage in excess of 100 ports as a single logical entity. Configuration is therefore faster and simpler. Stacking also provides the user with the optional resilient IP addresses across the stack. Thus if a failure should occur, the resilient IP address can be used for management stacking using the SuperStack II Switch matrix module and cable, keeping front panel ports free and increasing the number of matrix ports in an aggregated system.

Management

Transcend® network management
All SuperStack II switches are managed by 3Com Transcend® network management and control solutions. Transcend solutions give you end-to-end visibility and control over all devices in your network with two levels of management: 1) technologies, such as embedded SmartAgent® software and RMON, within 3Com devices throughout the network, and 2) centralized highly automated applications at the network center for monitoring, configuring, and troubleshooting all devices in the network.

Ships with 3Com Transcend Network Supervisor
This PC-based application provides powerful, yet easy-to-use network management tuned to the needs of small-to-medium enterprises. Network devices are automatically discovered and network activity and stress monitored through an intuitive graphical interface focused on the tasks and information all managers need to take control of their network.

Web-based management
Manage your switches with any Web browser, either through direct or dial-up connection or across the LAN. This delivers ease of use and accessibility to network management personnel and reduces in-service costs, but still with full security.

Security — Disconnect Unauthorized Device (DUD)
LAN security architecture with DUD automatically disconnects unauthorized devices from the LAN.

Roving Analysis Port (RAP)
RAP allows a network analyzer attached to any unit in a stack to monitor any of the switch ports or virtual LANs (VLANs) in the stack. It also minimizes the time required for problem determination and resolution and maximizes switch uptime, thereby lowering your cost of ownership.

RMON support
Transcend software’s powerful combination of RMON (Remote Monitoring, a superset of SNMP MIB II) and embedded SmartAgent software reduces the processing burden on your management station, minimizes network traffic, and saves time by automatically monitoring and analyzing your network. RMON tells you at a glance how the network is performing and who is using it the most. And Transcend software gives you the added benefit of RMON features in your network without the processing and memory costs usually associated with RMON. See the At-a-Glance RMON Support table for details on RMON groups supported by SuperStack II switches.

Class of Service (CoS)

CoS can be defined simply as a method for prioritizing various traffic types. 3Com switches can support two methods of enabling CoS on Ethernet networks. The first method is IEEE 802.1D (incorporating 802.1p), which enables eight levels of prioritization; and the second method is 3Com’s innovative PACE® technology, which allows the user to specify certain applications as high priority. A hardware feature, dual queues, is used to exploit these traffic prioritization schemes; the dual queues function—required for CoS—will automatically enable a second port buffer for high-priority traffic thereby allowing the traffic to bypass lower priority data for faster processing within the switch.

Traffic Management

Flow control
Flow control is an essential switch feature that eliminates dropped packets on congested ports. To provide switch application flexibility, 3Com switches support flow control schemes suited to both full- and half-duplex environments. Intelligent Flow Management (IFM) is a solution designed to work in half duplex, for example, a hub aggregation application. A solution using IEEE 802.3x is also supported and designed for full-duplex connections, such as desktop switching; this method of flow control is set automatically using the autosensing features of SuperStack II switches.

Broadcast traffic control
Traditional Ethernet switches suffer from the threat of broadcast storms that can potentially bring networks to a halt. However, all SuperStack II switches can be configured with broadcast storm protection to limit the number of broadcast packets allowed to be forwarded by each port. This allows the SuperStack II switches to offer the security of broadcast storm protection normally associated with a router while also providing the protocol independence of a switch.

Network Availability

Backup power supplies
3Com gives you all the choices you need to ensure constant power to your stackable switches. Both the Advanced Redundant Power System (ARPS) and the Uninterruptible Power System (UPS) work with any SuperStack II switch. The ARPS is ideally suited as a backup for individual power supplies in the SuperStack II units. The UPS fully protects your SuperStack II system from the effects of brownouts or spikes that occur in outside power lines.

Resilient links
3Com’s simple and flexible resilient links technology ensures fault tolerance via redundant connections to other network devices.

Spanning tree
Support for the industry-standard IEEE 802.1D spanning tree protocol is provided as an alternative to resilient links. This protects against network loops and can be used to provide redundant network paths.

Port trunking
Port trunking establishes backbone links by treating multiple parallel links as a single network pipe. Trunking also provides link redundancy; traffic on any failed link comprising a network trunk automatically switches over to the other links in the trunk.

VLANs

VLANs allow PCs, workstations, and other resources, including printers and file servers, to be organized into logical, broadcast domains so that only devices within the same domain can communicate with each other. 3Com switches allow users to implement VLANs on their network using one of two schemes: IEEE 802.1Q, including GVRP, which enables the auto-learning of VLANs, or 3Com’s VLT. Both methods allow for the configuration of VLANs based on ports and/or MAC addresses for maximum flexibility and security. For 802.1Q VLANs, a port on a switch can be assigned to a VLAN; all other switches learn about that VLAN when the switches automatically communicate that knowledge via the GVRP protocol.

Switches supporting both VLAN schemes can be used to provide seamless migration from VLT to IEEE 802.1Q environments that preserve investment in current LAN developments and equipment.

Layer 3 Support

Multicast filtering using IGMP snooping
Multicast filtering enables the automatic configuration of filters for IP multicast traffic, such as video and audio broadcasts, allowing advanced multimedia applications to be delivered easily to the workgroup.