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Cisco IE 2000 Switch Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter 6 Configuring Switch Clusters
How to Plan for Switch Clustering
Figure 6-6 Discovery of Newly Installed Switches
IP Addresses
You must assign IP information to a cluster command switch. You can assign more than one IP address
to the cluster command switch, and you can access the cluster through any of the command-switch IP
addresses. If you configure a cluster standby group, you must use the standby-group virtual IP address
to manage the cluster from the active cluster command switch. Using the virtual IP a ddress ensures that
you retain connectivity to the cluster if the active cluster command switch fails and that a standby cluster
command switch becomes the active cluster command switch.
If the active cluster command switch fails and the standby cluster command switch t akes over, you must
either use the standby-group virtual IP address or any of the IP a ddresses available on the new active
cluster command switch to access the cluster.
You can assign an IP address to a cluster-capable switch, but it is not necessary. A cluster member switch
is managed and communicates with other cluster member switches through the command-switch IP
address. If the cluster member switch leaves the cluster and it does not have its own IP address, you must
assign an IP address to manage it as a standalone switch.
For more information about IP addresses, see Chapter 4, “Performing Swit ch Setup Configuration.”
Hostnames
You do not need to assign a hostname to either a cluster command switch or an eligible cluster member.
However, a hostname assigned to the cluster command switch can help to identify the switch cluster. The
default hostname for the switch is Switch.
If a switch joins a cluster and it does not have a hostname, the cluster comma nd switch appends a unique
member number to its own hostname and assigns it sequentially as each switch joins the cluster. The
number means the order in which the switch was added to the cluster. For example, a cluster comman d
switch named eng-cluster could name the fifth cluster member eng- cluster-5.
If a switch has a hostname, it retains that name when it joins a cluster and when it leaves the cluster.
Command device
New (out-of-box)
candidate device
AP
Device A Device B
VLAN 9
VLAN 9
VLAN 16
VLAN 16
New (out-of-box)
candidate device
AP
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