Stacking - NETGEAR ProSAFE S3300 Hardware Installation Manual

Stacking

A single switch can control and manage a stack. This switch is referred to as the stack
master, or simply, the master. Any other members in the stack are referred to as slaves. All
switches in a stack are stack members.
Slaves can download firmware from the master and the master can push firmware to the
slaves.
The master runs the fully operational software of a switch. In addition, the master runs the
master software of the distributed switching application that configures and manages all
slaves. Generally, the master operates the remote slave's low-level drivers through the
distributed switching application part that is running in the context of the slave.
During stacking setup, the switches autoselect one switch as the master. All other switches
become slaves and are assigned unique stack IDs. One of the slaves is designated as the
backup master. The backup master functions as a slave but can become the master if the
original master fails. In the default configuration, the master and backup master are assigned
unit IDs of 1 and 2, respectively. You can use the web management interface to configure
different ID assignments. The master provides a single point of control and management as
well as a single interface through which to control and manage the stack.
Switch software is downloaded separately for each stack member. However, all stack
members must be running the same software version.
A stack unit can operate in one of the following modes:
• A standalone switch runs as a general switch. The standalone unit does not run the
stacking application until it is connected to a stack.
• A master manages the entire stack and is responsible for the entire stack configuration.
All protocols run in the context of the master, which updates and synchronizes the backup
master.
• A backup master runs as a slave until it must take over from the master. In addition, the
backup master continuously monitors the existence and operation of the master. If the
master fails, the backup master assumes the role of master through a switchover.
• A slave runs only a slave version of the distributed switching software, which allows the
applications running on the master to control and manage the resources of the slave.
A stack can contain a mix of up to six S3300 switches. All S3300 models support stacking.
S3300 Smart Switch
Introduction
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