CHAPTER A | Troubleshooting
Stack Troubleshooting
STACK TROUBLESHOOTING
If a stack fails to initialize or function, first check the following items:
Check that all stacking cables are properly connected.
Check if any stacking cables appear damaged.
Check that only one Stack Master button is pressed in.
Check that all switches in the stack are powere d on.
After checking all items, reboot all the swit ches in the stack.
Switches in the stack may be configured using a ring- or line-topology. To ensure
minimal disruption in case a unit or sta cking cable fails, always use a ring-
topology. When using ring-topology configuration and a switch fails, or a
stacking cable is disconnected, the stack continues normal operation using line-
topology stacking through the remaining stack connections.
If any changes occur to a slave unit, such as unit failure or insertion of a new
unit, operation of the other units in the stack are not affected. On the other
hand, if the master unit fails, the unit with the lowest MAC address is elected as
the new master. The stack reboots, discovers the new sta ck topology, assigns
identifiers to each unit, and checks the software images
on
each
unit. This
process make take up to two minutes.
If you do not connect a wrap-around cable from the bo t to m unit back up to the
top unit in the stack, the failure of a single unit will cause the stack to break into
two separate stacks. In this case, a master unit will be ele cted for both of the
stacks. However, backup information inherited from the
previous
master
unit will
cause the same IP address to be used by both master units in the two stacks.
You must therefore manually reconfigure th e IP address of the management
interface on one of the master units.
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