Newbie procurve mesh question

[jetstream44]

Hello all.

I'm very new to HP switches and I need to mesh some switches together but I'm having problems finding out the models that support it.

I think I've found that the 5308XL and 400M models do but I have a couple of 4208VL's and one 2510 that I'm having problems determining if they do or not.

If they don't support meshing then what is my best option if these switches are in a ring topology. Just plain old SPT? They all don't support OSPF so that's out of the equation as well.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

[HP-JustinGuse · Accepted solution]

Hello,

The following switches support meshing...

Current Products

• 8200zl
• 6200yl
• 6400cl
• 5400zl
• 3500yl
• 5300xl
• 3800tl
• 3400cl

Legacy Products

• 4000M
• 8000M
• 2424M
• 1600M

You should also note the following:

The ProCurve 5400zl, 3500yl, and 6200yl switches are compatible with the meshing feature on the 5300xl and 3400cl Series switches. There is no backward-compatibility mode for interoperation with a ProCurve Switch 4000M mesh.

http://www.hp.com/rnd/support/faqs/5400zl-3500yl.htm#question36

Further info (though the document is a bit dated):

http://www.hp.com/rnd/pdfs/Switch_Meshing_Paper_Tech_Brief.pdf

If your switches don't support it there are always other methods you can use, depending on what you want to achieve. Most ProCurve switches support MSTP which allows you to do some "load sharing" for different VLANs over different links, for example.