Stack Manager Selection; Recommended Procedures For New And Existing Stacks - Enterasys A4H124-24 Hardware Installation Manual

Configuring Switches in a Stack

Stack Manager Selection

When you install and connect all the high-speed stacking cables to the switches in the stack, the
following occurs once power is applied to the switches:
• The switch that will manage (manager) the stack is automatically established with all other
switches established as member switches in the stack. When the switches complete their
initialization, one of the switches in the stack will illuminate its MGR LED, indicating that it is
the stack manager. The MGR LED on each member switch will be off.
• The hierarchy of the switches that will function as backup manager is also determined in case
the current manager malfunctions, is powered down, or is disconnected from the stack.
• The Console port on each member switch is deactivated. Only the Console port on the
manager switch is active for out-of band configuration to set the IP address, password, and
other configuration settings.
Once you know which switch is the manager, proceed to
Local Management" on page 2-20.

Recommended Procedures for New and Existing Stacks

The following procedures assume that all switches have a clean configuration from manufacturing. When
adding a new switch to an already running stack, it is also assumed that the new switch is using the same
firmware image version as other switches in the stack.
Installing a New Stackable System of Up to Eight Switches
Use the following procedure to install a new stack of up to eight switches out of the box. Before
applying power, make all physical connections with the stack cables as described in
Stacking
1. Once all of the stack cables have been connected, individually power on each switch from top
to bottom (connecting power to a switch is described in
If the switches are powered on almost simultaneously, the system will automatically select the
first one that powers up as the Master switch and the others as member switches. The switches
are assigned unit IDs in the order that they become fully operational.
You can control the unit ID assignment according to the physical position in a stack. When
you power up each switch and allow it to become fully operational before applying power to
the next switch, the first one becomes the manager and all the next switches will join that stack
(regardless of priority, firmware revision, or MAC address). The switches are assigned unit
IDs in the order that you power on each switch.
2. Connect to the Console port of the manager switch.
3. (Optional) If desired, change the management switch using the set switch movemanagement
command as described in the Enterasys A4 CLI Reference Guide.
4. Once the desired master switch has been selected, reset the system using the reset command
as described in the Enterasys A4 CLI Reference Guide.
2-8 Installation
Cables" on page 2-5.
Note: Once switch IDs are assigned, they are persistent and will be retained during a
power cycle to any or all of the switches.
"Connecting to the Console Port for
Important
"Connecting AC
"Connecting
Power" on page 2-9).