Product specifications

Replacing the Network Switch

• Disable any trunking to other switches before removing the switch. Any trunking involved with the switch is

part of the configuration file and helps when reconfiguring the trunk on the new switch.

• You do not have to shut down the System Director or Engines when replacing a switch, particularly if you

have a redundant switch configuration.

To replace a switch you need a console connection to the switch and a tftp server. The following are high level

steps that assume the failed switch is still capable of making a tftp backup. If the switch is completely dead, you

must either restore the configuration from a previous backup or configure it manually.

To capture the switch configuration file:

1. Copy the startup configuration of the failed switch to the tftp server.

2. Install the replacement switch.

3. Configure a temporary interface on the new switch to connect to the tftp server (best to use a no switchport

interface with IP address on same subnet as TFTP server).

4. Copy the backup copy of the old switch startup configuration to the new switch (copy tftp startup-config).

5. Reload the switch configuration and old switch configuration should be restored on the new switch.

The specific commands will be different between Cisco and Dell Networking but they all should be in the

switch configuration guide.

If a TFTP server is not available:

t Use a console/telnet client such as PUTTY to list the configuration and copy it to a text file, which can then be

pasted back into the new switch and save to NVRAM.

Increase the PUTTY scroll back buffer to at least 2000. If you increase it to 50000 and make the screen longer and

wider you can capture “show tech-support” output.