Enterasys SecureStack B2 B2G124-48P - Page 53

Configuring Switches in a Stack
3-12 Hardware Installation
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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High‐Speed
StackingCables”onpage 3‐10,thefollowing
occursduringinitialization:
•Thesw itch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 3‐17.
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:ge.4.12isthe12thGigabitEthernet portonswitch
number 4).
3. Themanagementelectionprocessusesthefollowingprecedencetoassigna
managementdevice:
a. Previously assigned/electedmanagementswitch
b. Managementassignedpriority(values1–15)
c. Hardwarepreferencelevel
d. HighestMACAddress