What is the best way to daisy chain 4 switches?

I have 4 3com switches here that are going to be at the core of our network. I'm trying to figure out how I would daisy chain them together. Do I take one main switch and just link to the other three? Or.. Do I just go from one to the other straight down? The first thing I tried caused a redundant loop and the packets went crazy.. It was funny =)

What is the best way to daisy chain 4 switches?
The loop was detected because the packets where leaving one port on the switch and coming back in on another. If you are going to connect switches together, you have some options. I dont recommend that you daisy chain because you will more than likely cause a bottleneck on cable that runs from switch to switch. If the switch does not allow for them to be connected by the backplane (special connections in the back of the switch) then I would connected in hub and spoke model (like a tree). You start with a root switch and plug the three switches into the root switch, one in each port. As the root switch's ports are filled up, then you move down to the next layer and continue the same process. Some switches allow for trunking so that you can actually combine several ports to create one "virtual" trunk line to carry the data. That way you dont bottleneck on the port.





Make sure you can turn on the Spanning Tree Protocol so that if you create a loop the future, the switch can automatically shut down one of the ports. This is to prevent you network from comming down in the event of a loop.
Reply:Plug a cable from a numbered port on switch 1 to the uplink port on switch two. Plug a cable from a numbered port on switch 2 to the uplink port on switch 3. Plug a cable from a numbered port on sw 3 to the uplink port on switch 4.





All done :)
Reply:Don't daisy-chain them straight down, connect three switches to one "main" switch if that is your pnly option. Be aware that you may need to use crossover cables depending on the switch model. Do not create any loops.
Reply:Connect in kind of a straight line. Don't loop. That produces multiple routes and unless you know VLANS, trunking, and spanning tree, you'll have problems. Just connect all four from one to another in a daisy chain. If you plan to break up the traffic and connect multiple routers to them, you'll need to manage the switches and use VLANS and Trunking. Spanning Tree is for the loop to provide redundancy.