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by dsiverson

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can I stack (connect) 2 switches together and if so do I use a straight through cat 5 or a cross over to connect the 2
Thanks - Sharon

4 replies

by timwalsh

You need to look at the documentation for your particular switches. Some will need a cross-over cable (usually older switches).

Usually if a switch has a dedicated uplink port, it will take a straight-through cable.

by tbragsda

As Tim said, look for a uplink, or a MDI/MDI-x button. If you see one of these, you can use a straight cable.

by djent

If your switches are stackable they will have a connector for that purpose and an interconnnect cable. If not you can cascade them with CAT5 cables VIA the uplink port with a staight cable or or use a normal port with a crossover cable.

by vrojasg

You can stack two swithces together with a Cat5 crossover cable or a fiber connection (GBICs). You can even have two connections so you can have full redundancy. Just make sure your switches support STP to avoid loops.
Also, if the link will carry traffic from multiple VLANs, make sure to enable trunking on both ends.

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