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Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3130 for Dell Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter5 Managing Switch Stacks Understanding Switch Stacks
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Switch Stack Management Connectivity, page 5-17
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Switch Stack Configuration Scenarios, page5-19
Switch Stack Membership
A switch stack has up to nine stack members connected through their StackWise Plus ports. A switch
stack always has one stack master.
A standalone switch is a switch stack with one stack member that also operates as the stack master. You
can connect one standalone switch to another (Figure 5-1 on page 5-4 and Figure 5-2 on page 5-5) to
create a switch stack containing two stack members, with one of them as the stack master. You can
connect standalone switches to an existing switch stack (Figure5-3 on page 5-6) to increase the stack
membership.
If you replace a stack member with an identical model, the new switch functions with exactly the same
configuration as the replaced switch, assuming that the new switch is using the same member number as
the replaced switch. For information about the benefits of provisioning a switch stack, see the “Switch
Stack Offline Configuration” section on page 5-9. For information about replacing a failed switch, see
the “Troubleshooting” chapter in the hardware installation guide.
The operation of the switch stack continues uninterrupted du ring me mb ershi p chan ge s u nless you
remove the stack master or you add powered-on standalone switches or switch stacks.
Note Make sure that you power off the switches that you add to or remove from the switch stack.
After adding or removing stack members, make sure that the switch stack is operatin g at full bandwidth
(64 Gb/s). Press the Mode button on a stack member until the Stack mode LED is on. The last two right
port LEDs on all switches in the stack should be green. Depending on the switch model, the last two right
ports are 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports or small form-factor pluggable (SFP) module ports (10/100/1000
ports). If one or both of these LEDs are not green on a ny of the sw itch es, th e stac k is no t op er at ing a t
full bandwidth.
•Adding powered-on switches (merging) causes the stack masters of the merging switch stacks to
elect a stack master from among themselves. The re-elected stack master retains its role and
configuration and so do its stack members. All remaining switches, including the former stack
masters, reload and join the switch stack as stack members. They change their stack member
numbers to the lowest available numbers and use the stack configuration of the re-elected stack
master.
•Removing powered-on stack members causes the switch stack to divide (partition) into two or more
switch stacks, each with the same configuration. This can ca use an IP a ddress conf igurati on confli ct
in your network. If you want the switch stacks to remain separate, change the IP address or addresses
of the newly created switch stacks. If you did not intend to partition the switch stack:
a. Power off the switches in the newly created switch stacks.
b. Reconnect them to the original switch stack through their StackWise Plus ports.
c. Power on the switches.
For more information about cabling and powering switch stacks, see the “Switch Installation” chap ter in
the hardware installation guide.