Mesh design question

[Tony Barrett_2]

I'm trying to design a mesh network for our existing LAN. The core switch is a 5406zl feeding to 6 5308xl switches. The mesh is going to be a partially connected one, and all I'm looking to do is provide at least 1 redundant path for each 5308 switch. I'd rather the traffic was balanced using a mesh, than only active on failure if using STP.

Anyway, my question is, all the 5308's currently have primary fibre connections to the 5406. If I add a mesh, do all the switches need secondary (mesh port) connections to the 5406, or can I just configure the mesh between ports on the 5308's? It's a bit difficult to explain, but if a packet takes a meshed port route via another 5308, will the packet then expect to pass across a meshed port link back to the 5406, or can it use the primary connection that's already in place?

My concern is that if I don't have a meshed link (as well as a primary link) from each 5308 to the 5406, then packets could just spin round the meshed loop on the 5308's, and never make it back to the core.