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Cisco IE 2000 Switch Software Configuration Guide
OL-25866-01
Chapter 6 Configuring Switch Clusters
How to Plan for Switch Clustering
If a switch received its hostname from the cluster command switch, was removed from a cluster, was
then added to a new cluster, and kept the same member number (such as 5), the switch overwrites the
old hostname (such as eng-cluster-5) with the hostname of the cluster command switch in the new cluster
(such as mkg-cluster-5). If the switch member number changes in the new cluster (such as 3), the switch
retains the previous name (eng-cluster-5).
Passwords
You do not need to assign passwords to an individual switch if it will be a cluster member. When a switch
joins a cluster, it inherits the command-switch password and retains it when it leaves the cluster. If no
command-switch password is configured, the cluster member switch inherits a null password. Cluster
member switches only inherit the command-switch password.
If you change the member-switch password to be different from the command-switch password and save
the change, the switch is not manageable by the cluster command switch until you change the
member-switch password to match the command-switch password. Rebooting the member switch does
not revert the password back to the command-switch password. We recommend that you do not change
the member-switch password after it joins a cluster.
For more information about passwords, see the “Prevention for Unauthorized Switch Access” section on
page 12-2.
For password considerations specific to the Catalyst 1900 and Catalyst 2820 switches, refer to the
installation and configuration guides for those switches.
SNMP Community Strings
A cluster member switch inherits the command-switch first read-only (RO) and read-write (RW)
community strings with @esN appended to the community strings:
• command-switch-readonly-community-string@esN, where N is the member-switch number.
• command-switch-readwrite-community-string@esN, where N is the member-switch number.
If the cluster command switch has multiple read-only or read-write community strings, only the first
read-only and read-write strings are propagated to the cluster member switch.
The switches support an unlimited number of community strings and string lengths. For more
information about SNMP and community strings, see Chapter 36, “Configuring SNMP.”
For SNMP considerations specific to the Catalyst 1900 and Catalyst 2820 switches, refer to the
installation and configuration guides specific to those switches.
TACACS+ and RADIUS
If TACACS+ is configured on a cluster member, it must be configured on all cluster members. Similarly,
if RADIUS is configured on a cluster member, it must be configured on all cluster members.The same
switch cluster cannot have some members configured with TACACS+ and other members configured
with RADIUS.
For more information about TACACS+, see the “Configuring TACACS+” section on page 12-30. For
more information about RADIUS, see the “Configuring Radius Server Communication” section on
page 12-33.