Enterasys SecureStack A2 A2H254-16 - Page 41

Configuring Switches in a Stack
SecureStack A2 Installation Guide 3-13
Onceinstalledinastack,theswitchesbehaveand performasasingleswitch.Assuch,
youcanstartwithasingleswitchandaddmoreswitchesasyournetworkexpands.You
canalsomixdifferentproductsinthesamefamilyinasinglestacktoprovideadesired
combinationof
porttypesandfunctionstomatchtherequirementsofindividual
applications.Inallcases,astackofswitchesperformsasonelargeproduct,andis
managedasasinglenetworkentity.
Whenswitchesareinstalledandconnectedasdescribedbackin“ConnectingStacking
Cables”onpage3‐11,thefollowingoccursduringinitialization:
•Theswitchthatwillmanagethestackisautomaticallyestablishedandisreferredtoas
theManagerswitch.
•AllotherswitchesareestablishedasMemberswitchesinthe stack.
•Thehierarchyoftheswitchesthatwillassumethefunctionofbackupmanagerisalso
determinedincasethecurrentmanagermalfunctions,
ispowereddown,oris
disconnectedfromthestack.
•TheConsoleportonthemanagerswitchremainsactiveforout‐of‐band(local)switch
management,buttheConsoleportoneachmemberswitchisdeactivated.This 
enablesyoutosettheIPaddressandsystempasswordusingasingleConsoleport.

Noweachswitchcanbeconfiguredlocallyusingonlythemanager’sConsoleport,or
in‐bandusingaremotedeviceandtheCLIsetofcommandsdescribedinthissection.
ForproceduresusedforvarioustypesofconnectionstotheConsoleport,referto
“ConnectingtoConsolePortforLocal
Management”onpage3‐18.
Onceastackiscreated(morethanoneswitch isinterconnected),thefollowingoccurs:
1. Switch(unit)IDsarearbitrarilyassignedonafirst‐come,first‐servedbasis.
2. SwitchIDsaresavedagainsteachmodule.Then,everytimeaboardispower‐cycled,
itwillinitializewiththesameswitchID.Thisisimportantforport‐specific
information(forexample:fe.4.12isthe12thFastEthernet
portonswitchnumber4).
3. Themanagementelectionprocessusesthefollowingprecedencetoassigna
managementswitch:
a. Previouslyassigned/electedmanagementswitch
b. Managementassignedpriority(values1–15 )
c. Hardwarepreferencelevel
d. HighestMACAddress