Stacking Dell PowerConnect Switches: 8132, 8132F, 8164, 8164F 
9 
 
3.  A unit is selected as standby by the administrator, and a fail over action is manually initiated or 
occurs due to a Master unit failure. 
 
  Note: The terms Master and Manager/Management Unit are often used interchangeably in 
regards to stacking. 
In most cases, a switch that is added to an existing stack becomes a stack member, and not the 
Management Unit.  When a switch is added to the stack, one of the following scenarios takes place 
regarding the management status of the new switch: 
If the switch has the Management Unit function enabled but another Master unit is already 
active, then the switch changes its configured Management Unit value to disabled. 
If the Management Unit function is unassigned and there is another Management Unit in 
the system, then the switch changes its configured Management Unit value to disabled. 
If the Management Unit function is enabled or unassigned and there is no other 
Management Unit in the system, then the switch becomes Management Unit. 
If the Management Unit function is disabled, the unit remains a non-Management Unit.    
 
If the entire stack is powered OFF and ON again, the unit that was the Management Unit before the 
reboot remains the Management Unit after the stack resumes operation. 
A Unit number for the switch can be manually set.  To avoid unit-number conflicts, one of the following 
scenarios takes place when adding a new member to the stack: 
If the switch has a unit number that is already in use, then the unit added to the stack 
changes its configured unit number to the lowest unassigned unit number. 
If the switch added does not have an assigned unit number, then the switch sets its 
configured unit number to the lowest unassigned unit number. 
If the unit number is configured and there are no other devices using the unit number, then 
the switch starts using the configured unit number. 
If the switch detects that the maximum number of units already exist in the stack making it 
unable to assign a unit number, then the switch sets its unit number to unassigned and 
does not participate in the stack. 
 
After the stack is created, the show switch command displays the roles of each switch.  
console#show switch 
 
    Management Standby   Preconfig  Plugged-in    Switch     Code 
SW  Status     Status    Model ID   Model ID      Status     Version 
--- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------- ---------- --------- 
1   Mgmt Sw         PCT8164F   PCT8164F      OK         5.0.0.3 
2   Stack Mbr  Oper Stby PCT8132F   PCT8132F      OK         5.0.0.3 
3   Stack Mbr            PCT8132F   PCT8132F      OK         5.0.0.3 
4   Stack Mbr            PCT8164F   PCT8164F      OK         5.0.0.3 
5   Stack Mbr            PCT8164    PCT8164       OK         5.0.0.3 
6   Stack Mbr            PCT8164F   PCT8164F      OK         5.0.0.3