Stack them all! New campus access switches from HPE Aruba Networking

[NetworkExperts]

This blog is authored by Rayan Fakhro, senior product marketing manager at HPE Aruba Networking.

Almost 25 years ago, IT network operators relied heavily on command-line interfaces (CLI) to manage their local area network (LAN). LAN management was a tedious, manual, and repetitive task, requiring IT to configure network devices and roll out any rules and policy changes for clients one at a time. LAN management was particularly complex and labor intensive for the access layer, which contained switches that are orders of magnitude more in quantity than other layers of the network switching fabric.

It was in this context that enterprise switch stacking technology began to emerge and gain traction. And it was a game changer for LAN management.

Switch stacking enabled multiple network switches to be interconnected and managed as a single logical unit, significantly reducing the workload required for IT to push configurations. Between stacking, LAN management software, and custom-written scripts, IT operators were able to forge a path toward a more efficient process for scaling an Enterprise campus network.

Today’s enterprise campus networks are much larger and more complex. Business success is more reliant on IT than ever to provide digital experiences, enable cloud-native applications, and support new ways of finding and reaching customers.

Switches in a three-tier enterprise campus network architecture

Enterprise networking requirements have grown well past the LAN management practices of yesteryear. Rather than adding a new tool for each new problem¹, a new approach is needed to save IT time and resources—one that isn’t siloed into a myriad of tools, but rather one that is unified and delivers a single point of control for wired, wireless, and wide area (WAN) network infrastructure across campus, branch, and data center.

While physical stacking continues to play a significant role in reducing the complexity of LAN management for IT operators, creating a secure, high-performance, always-on network designed for operational efficiency and growth begins with a modern infrastructure–particularly for access switches that live at the edge of the network, directly servicing the users and endpoint devices that tend to generate most of the traffic passing through.

The latest addition to the HPE Aruba Networking modern family of stackable access switching solutions is the HPE Aruba Networking CX 6300L series. It takes the capacity and scale that makes the CX 6300 series a powerhouse for high-performance aggregation and delivers that with only the capabilities to fit a Layer 2 network topology, creating a cost-effective, high-performance switching solution for enterprise access networks.

HPE Aruba Networking 6300L switches (From top to bottom: S3L75A S3L76A, S3L77A)

Key capabilities of CX 6300L series switches include:

• High-performance access switching with up to 10G SR downlinks, 25G/50G uplinks, and 10-member VSF stacking with other CX 6300L switches
• Always on class 6 (60W) and class 8 (90W) PoE with up to 2880W of power, ready to support IoT and mobility
• Modular switching with redundant, hot-swappable fans and power supplies
• Stronger data link layer security with standards-based MACsec 256 encryption and authentication on uplinks and downlinks.
• Time synchronization support with precision time protocol (PTP) boundary clock (BC) and transparent clock (TC)
• Familiar network operations spanning campus with modern cloud and on-premises management options.

It joins our HPE Aruba Networking CX 6200 as well as the 2930F and 2930M series of stackable switches to deliver simplified, automated, and always-on operations for the access edge.

Learn more about the CX 6300L and how you can deploy it in your environment on our CX 6300 switching web page.

Source:

[1] Network management tool sprawl plagues IT organizations, TechTarget