Cascading vs...

[jorken]

Suppose you have 4-5 like switches, the top going to your core. Are there advantages/disadvantages to cascading them down vs. plugging each switch individually into the top switch?

 

[skyking]

the fewer the connections, the better in every case. Set up a core switch, and connect the server, WAN connection or router, and all other switches to that.
Hook workstations to the outlying switches in the "star".

 

[spidey07]

The main concern is so many switch hops. Rule of thumb is to have no more than 5.

Plus each switch adds its own latency (very small though) and it adds up over the course of a conversation.

Not to mention cascading switches like that leads to large portions of a network being unusable if a single link has trouble