Introduction to Stacking vs VSS

Stacking transforms standalone switches into single logical unit or group, with this group of switches showing the characteristics of a single switch but having the port capacity of the sum of the combined switches.

A VSS is network system virtualization technology that pools multiple Cisco Catalyst Switches into one virtual switch, increasing operational efficiency, boosting non-stop communications, and scaling system bandwidth capacity. A VSS will allow two physical Cisco Catalyst Series Switches to operate as a single logical virtual switch called a virtual switching system.

Comparison Table: Stacking vs VSS

Though both the technologies (Stacking and VSS) aim to form multiple standalone switches into one single management plane, this is essential that we understand how both the technologies differ –

FEATURE	STACKING	VSS
Cabling	Uses Proprietary Cabling	Uses 10G Interfaces
Distance Supported	Limited by distance	VSS members can be in geographically distant locations
Chassis members	Scalable upto 8-9 members	2 members at max
Platform switches	2960 , 3750 , 3650 , 3850	6500 , 6800 , 4500
Control Plane	1 Control Plane	1 Control Plane
Switch Size	On smaller / Access layer switches	On Core or Aggregation layer switches
Add/remove member	No detailed configuration required to add stack member	Configuration required to add Chassis into VSS group
Control and management traffic	No dedicated link explicitly for control and management traffic.	VSL is the dedicated link for carrying control and management information across VSS members.