Media for Cisco recommended Switch setup

Cisco recommended Switch setup

Hi All,

I have heard that Cisco does not recommend daisy-chaining the Catalyst switches, but I don't know if that's only using X-over cables or what.

We've got 3548-XL-EN switches with the GBIC modules, and I've been daisy-chaining them with those, but I still don't know if that's the proper setup.

For example, suppose you have 1 switch that all of your servers are patched into, yet have 6 other switches going out to people's workstations that need connectivity....what is the recommended solution to connect all of those?

(Obviously, if you only have 2 GBIC modules, you can only go direct into

2 other switches. So if you daisy-chain and one in the middle dies, then you're screwed. But that's why we have extra, I guess...)

I don't know much about fiber technology...is this where something like a fiber panel would come in to the picture?

Any links for reading material on this would be appreciated as well. (Yes, I've searched Google but I don't know that I'm phrasing the question correctly) :-)

Thanks!