Dell Technologies introduces VLAN stacking in Dell SmartFabric OS10.5.4.0. This feature, commonly called Q-in-Q, is available for use on the Dell PowerEdge MX platform in Full Switch mode starting with version OS10.5.4.1.
VLAN stacking is often recommended for the service provider use case. VLAN stacking enables service providers to offer separate VLANs to customers with no coordination between customers, with minimal coordination between customers and the provider. VLAN stacking allows service providers to add their own VLAN tag to data or control frames traversing the provider network. The provider can differentiate customers even if those customers use the same VLAN ID. The providers' network forwarding decisions are based on the provider VLAN tag only. This tag enables the provider to map traffic through the core independent of the customer; the customer and provider only coordinate at the provider edge.
Another use case that is more suited to the Dell PowerEdge MX Platform is to allow the MX7000 Chassis, or MX Scalable Fabric, to be treated as a single workload from the perspective of the top of rack (ToR) leaf pair. VLAN stacking is used to allow many workloads with unique VLANs to be represented by a single stack VLAN on the uplink of the MX IOMs. This allows for VLAN changes to occur within the MX Scalable Fabric on each server without the need for networking admins to change the configuration in the overall data center. This also provides PowerEdge MX Platform a flexibility of better VLAN Management and Scaling.
For more information about VLAN Stacking, see the VLAN Stacking section in the the Dell SmartFabric OS10 User Guide. Find the relevant version of the User Guide in the OME-M and OS10 compatibility and documentation table.