What is preferred in Switch Stacking? [Flex Link -or- LACP]

envoquesolutions

Hello,

We're setting up a switch stacking environment and want to ensure both performance and failover are optimized.

I’m trying to understand which method is more preferred in a Zyxel-managed environment with Stacking:

• Flex Link for simpler redundancy without active load balancing
• LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) for both redundancy and load sharing.

Can anyone from the community (or Zyxel team) help clarify:

• Which one offers better fault tolerance and throughput in real-world Zyxel setups?
• Are there any known limitations or benefits when using either with Zyxel's managed switches (like the XS3800-28)?
• Is there a scenario where Flex Link is recommended over LACP?

Appreciate any real-world experiences or documentation links. Thanks in advance!

Zyxel_Melen

Hi @envoquesolutions

Which one offers better fault tolerance and throughput in real-world Zyxel setups?

Since you mention the throughput, I recommend to use LACP. It can enlarge your available bandwidth, which is not supported on Flex Link function.

Are there any known limitations or benefits when using either with Zyxel's managed switches (like the XS3800-28)?

I assume this question is to understand if these two function can use together on the same port. The answer is no, because Flex Link makes one port forwarding and another is blocking, which makes LACP can't share the bandwidth from two ports.

Is there a scenario where Flex Link is recommended over LACP?

Like

• Connects with different uplink devices.