Enterasys Networks A2H124-24FX Configuring Switches in a Stack

Configuring Switches in a Stack

SecureStack A2 Installation Guide 3-13

Configuring Switches in a Stack

TheinformationinthefollowingsectionsisimportanttounderstandA2switchoperation

andinstallationsinastackinstallation.

TheSecureStackA2productsarestackableswitchesthatcanbeadaptedandscaledto

helpmeetyournetworkneeds.Theseswitchesprovideamanagementplatformand

uplinktoanetworkbackboneforastackedgroupofuptoeightA2switches.

Onceinstalledinastack,theswitchesbehaveandperformasasingleswitch.Assuch,

youcanstartwithasingleswitchandaddmoreswitchesasyournetworkexpands.You

canalsomixdifferentproductsinthesamefamilyinasinglestacktoprovideadesired

combinationofporttypesandfunctionstomatchtherequirementsofindividual

applications.Inallcases,astackofswitchesperformsasonelargeproduct,andis

managedasasinglenetworkentity.

Whenswitchesareinstalledandconnectedasdescribedbackin“ConnectingStacking

Cables”onpage3‐11,thefollowing occursduringinitialization:

•Theswitchthatwillmanagethestackisautomaticallyestablishedandisreferredtoas

theManagerswitch.

•AllotherswitchesareestablishedasMemberswitchesinthestack.

•Thehierarchyoftheswitchesthatwillassumethefunctionofbackupmanagerisalso

determinedincasethecurrentmanagermalfunctions,ispowereddown,oris

disconnectedfromthestack.

•TheConsoleportonthemanagerswitchremainsactiveforout‐of‐band(local)switch

management,buttheConsoleportoneachmemberswitchisdeactivated.This

enablesyoutosettheIPaddressandsystempasswordusingasingleConsoleport.

Noweachswitchcanbeconfiguredlocallyusingonlythemanager’sConsoleport,or

in‐bandusingaremotedeviceandtheCLIsetofcommandsdescribedinthissection.

ForproceduresusedforvarioustypesofconnectionstotheConsoleport,referto

“ConnectingtoConsolePortforLocalManagement”onpage 3‐20.

Onceastackiscreated(morethanoneswitchisinterconnected),thefollowingoccurs:

1. Switch(unit)IDsarearbitrarilyassignedonafirst‐come,first‐servedbasis.

2. SwitchIDsaresavedagainsteachmodule.Then,everytimeaboardispower‐cycled,

itwillinitializewiththesameswitchID.Thisisimportantforport‐specific

information(forexample:fe.4.12isthe12thFastEthernetportonswitchnumber 4).