How many uplinks do you use?

[CAWJames]

Morning all,

 

Just doing a redesign of our switching and was wondering how many 1GB fibre uplinks people use on a standard 48 port 1GB switch back to the core? Do you do one, or both, or if the switch had 4 SFP, all of them?

 

I tend to use 2, but thought I'd ask the hivemind their opinion if I am overkill with 2 or underkill

 

Thanks

 

James

[forkies]

We use 2 links on all switches. Looking for 10gb single links as a bandwidth upgrade soon and a 1gb backup link.

[Fazza]

At the moment we just use 1 of the 1Gb uplinks but we are planning to look in to teaming 2 Gb uplinks to create a 2Gb backbone that links to our 10Gb backbone to the server room during the summer 'break' if and when we get time!

[ChrisMiles]

We have some older switches with as many as 8 trunked ports. Just a note worth mentioning here, that teaming multiple 1gb links in this way does not increase the bandwidth available to a single device, only bandwidth available for all devices. i.e. A device can only use one of the links at a time for a max of 1gb of bandwidth. 10gb ethernet is the way to go

[Geoff]

We have a 10Gb core at the main site. Larger offices have 2Gb bonded links. Smaller offices are still on 100mbit with 1Gb uplinks. Honestly given the utilisation, I think most would be fine on 100mb to the desktop here. 1Gb links only get stressed when we image machines.

[rich_tech]

we use two uplinks per fibre here routinely, our fibres are run via separate paths internally and externally to prevent outages should a breakage occur, at the moment STP takes one link down, though I am toying with doing some port channel stuff.

 

1GB core here across the board as it stands at the moment, just renewed edge switching all to 1gb across the board (some old 10/100 linksys and early linksys/cisco switching just been replaced out).

[CAWJames]

Thanks for all the replies so far, seem I am good with my 2 1GB uplinks on most switches

 

I am looking at having 2 ES-16-XG 16 port 10GB switches as my core and running all the 1GB uplinks into them. So support for 6 dual port LAGS on each switch on the SFP+ ports, gives me enough for 12(or more if an 10/100 POE phone switch, will only need one) switches and still 4 ports of 10GB copper on each for future 10GB servers.

[markwilfan]

Remember they are only l2 switches if you use vlans

[AlanD]

We try to use 2x1GB fibre (or copper) links back to the core switches (a virtual stack - a ring actually)...with each fibre going to a different switch in the core of the stack. So a failure in a stack switch - or in one of the fibres...or their modules....does not loose connectivity for the edge switch. We have never lost a core switch....(yet...)...but have lost the odd edge switch...and several modules have failed (until I discovered cheap ones from china which seem much more robust). Apart from backups and copying large files or folders its surprisingly difficult to fill even 1x1GB link with random access data.

[pow]

I use 2x Cat6a 10GBe links between the dist switches and the 'core' (which is a M7100-24X), has removed any speed problems we were having!