Cisco Systems 3750E manual Switch Stack Membership

Chapter 5 Managing Switch Stacks

Understanding Switch Stacks

To manage switch stacks, you should understand:

•These concepts on how switch stacks are formed:

–Switch Stack Membership, page 5-3

–Stack Master Election and Re-Election, page 5-5

•These concepts on how switch stacks and stack members are configured:

–Switch Stack Bridge ID and Router MAC Address, page 5-6

–Stack Member Numbers, page 5-6

–Stack Member Priority Values, page 5-7

–Switch Stack Offline Configuration, page 5-8

–Hardware Compatibility and SDM Mismatch Mode in Switch Stacks, page 5-10

–Switch Stack Software Compatibility Recommendations, page 5-10

–Stack Protocol Version Compatibility, page 5-11

–Major Version Number Incompatibility Among Switches, page 5-11

–Minor Version Number Incompatibility Among Switches, page 5-11

–Incompatible Software and Stack Member Image Upgrades, page 5-15

–Switch Stack Configuration Files, page 5-15

–Additional Considerations for System-Wide Configuration on Switch Stacks, page 5-16

–Switch Stack Management Connectivity, page 5-16

–Switch Stack Configuration Scenarios, page 5-18

Note A switch stack is different from a switch cluster. A switch cluster is a set of switches connected through their LAN ports, such as the 10/100/1000 ports. For more information about how switch stacks differ from switch clusters, see the “Planning and Creating Clusters” chapter in the Getting Started with Cisco Network Assistant on Cisco.com.

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) 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 (Figure 5-2 on page 5-5) 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 5-8. For information about replacing a failed switch, see the “Troubleshooting” chapter in the hardware installation guide.

The operation of the switch stack continues uninterrupted during membership changes unless you remove the stack master or you add powered-on standalone switches or switch stacks.

Catalyst 3750-E and 3560-E Switch Software Configuration Guide

OL-9775-02 5-3