2-8 
1)  Determine whether the destination MAC address or destination IP address is used to trace a 
device in the cluster 
z  If you use the tracemac command to trace the device by its MAC address, the switch will query its 
MAC address table according to the MAC address and VLAN ID in the command to find out the port 
connected with the downstream switch. 
z  If you use the tracemac command to trace the device by its IP address, the switch will query the 
corresponding ARP entry of the IP address to find out the corresponding MAC address and VLAN 
ID, and thus find out the port connected with the downstream switch. 
2)  After finding out the port connected with the downstream switch, the switch will send a multicast 
packet with the VLAN ID and specified hops to the port. Upon receiving the packet, the 
downstream switch compares its own MAC address with the destination MAC address carried in 
the multicast packet: 
z  If the two MAC addresses are the same, the downstream switch sends a response to the switch 
sending the tracemac command, indicating the success of the tracemac command. 
z  If the two MAC addresses are different, the downstream switch will query the port connected with 
its downstream switch based on the MAC address and VLAN ID, and then forward the packet to its 
downstream switch. If within the specified hops, a switch with the specified destination MAC 
address is found, this switch sends a response to the switch sending the tracemac command, 
indicating the success of the tracemac command. If no switch with the specified destination MAC 
address (or IP address) is found, the multicast packet will not be forwarded to the downstream any 
more. 
 
 
z  If the queried IP address has a corresponding ARP entry, but the MAC address entry 
corresponding to the IP address does not exist, the trace of the device fails. 
z  To trace a specific device using the tracemac command, make sure that all the devices passed 
support the tracemac function. 
z  To trace a specific device in a management VLAN using the tracemac command, make sure that 
all the devices passed are within the same management VLAN as the device to be traced. 
 
Cluster Configuration Tasks 
Before configuring a cluster, you need to determine the roles and functions the switches play. You also 
need to configure the related functions, preparing for the communication between devices within the 
cluster. 
Table 2-2 Cluster configuration tasks: 
Configuration task  Remarks 
Configuring the Management Device  Required 
Configuring Member Devices  Required 
Managing a Cluster through the Management 
Device
 
Optional 
Configuring the Enhanced Cluster Features  Optional