Chapter 9      Troubleshooting
Recovery Procedures
9-14
Catalyst 2900 Series XL and Catalyst 3500 Series XL Software Configuration Guide
78-6511-05
Recovering from a Command Switch Failure
This section describes how to recover from a failed command switch. If you are 
running IOS Release 12.0(5)XU, you can configure a redundant command switch 
group by using the Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP). For more information, 
see the “Designating and Enabling Standby Command Switches” section on 
page 5-17. 
Note HSRP is the preferred method for supplying redundancy to a cluster.
If you have not configured a standby command switch, and your command switch 
loses power or fails in some other way, management contact with the member 
switches is lost, and a new command switch must be installed. However, 
connectivity between switches that are still connected is not affected, and the 
member switches forward packets as usual. You can manage the members as 
standalone switches through the console port or, if they have IP addresses, 
through the other management interfaces.
You can prepare for a command switch failure by assigning an IP address to a 
member switch or another switch that is command-capable, making a note of the 
command-switch password, and cabling your cluster to provide redundant 
connectivity between the member switches and the replacement command switch. 
This section describes two solutions for replacing a failed command switch:
• Replacing a failed command switch with a cluster member
• Replacing a failed command switch with another switch
For a list of command-capable Catalyst desktop switches, see the release notes.