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Catalyst 3750-E and 3560-E Switch Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter 6      Clustering Switches
Planning a Switch Cluster
HSRP and Standby Cluster Command Switches
The switch supports Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) so that you can configure a group of standby 
cluster command switches. Because a cluster command switch manages the forwarding of all 
communication and configuration information to all the cluster member switches, we strongly 
recommend the following:
  • For a cluster command switch stack, a standby cluster command switch is necessary if the entire 
switch stack fails. However, if only the stack master in the command switch stack fails, the switch 
stack elects a new stack master and resumes its role as the cluster command switch stack.
  • For a cluster command switch that is a standalone switch, configure a standby cluster command 
switch to take over if the primary cluster command switch fails.
A c
luster standby group is a group of command-capable switches that meet the requirements described 
in the “Standby Cluster Command Switch Characteristics” section on page 6-3. Only one cluster standby 
group can be assigned per cluster.
Note The cluster standby group is an HSRP group. Disabling HSRP disables the cluster standby group.
The switches in the cluster standby group are ranked according to HSRP priorities. The switch with the 
h
ighest priority in the group is the active cluster command switch (AC). The switch with the next highest 
priority is the standby cluster command switch (SC). The other switches in the cluster standby group are 
the passive cluster command switches (PC). If the active cluster command switch and the standby cluster 
command switch become disabled at the same time, the passive cluster command switch with the highest 
priority becomes the active cluster command switch. For the limitations to automatic discovery, see the 
“Automatic Recovery of Cluster Configuration” section on page 6-12. For information about changing 
HSRP priority values, see the “Configuring HSRP Priority” section on page 42-8. The HSRP st
andby 
priority 
interface configuration commands are the same for changing the priority of cluster standby 
group members and router-redundancy group members.
Note The HSRP standby hold time interval should be greater than or equal to three times the hello time 
interval. The default HSRP standby hold time interval is 10 seconds. The default HSRP standby hello 
ti
me interval is 3 seconds. For more information about the standby hold time and standby hello time 
intervals, see the “Configuring HSRP Authentication and Timers” section on page 42-10.
These connectivity guidelines ensure automatic discovery of the switch cluster, cluster candidates, 
c
onnected switch clusters, and neighboring edge devices. These topics also provide more detail about 
standby cluster command switches:
  • Virtual IP Addresses, page 6-11
  • Other Considerations for Cluster Standby Groups, page 6-11
  • Automatic Recovery of Cluster Configuration, page 6-12