Specifications

Installation and Startup 2-19

Assigning IP Information and a Password to the Switch

After POST completes, the Management Console Logon Screen (Figure 2-10) is displayed

on the management station. From this logon screen, you can assign IP information and a

privileged-level password to the switch. This section describes the importance of IP

information and a password to the switch and describes how to assign this information to

the switch.

IP Information

IP information identiﬁes the switch on the network and is required to conﬁgure and monitor

it as an individual switch. When you assign the switch its own IP address, you can manage

it from its management interfaces (switch manager, management console, SNMP, or CLI).

The switch retains its own IP address even when it joins or leaves a switch cluster.

If you do not assign an IP address to the switch, you must add the switch to a switch cluster

and manage it through the command switch. Whether or not the switch has its own IP

address, when the switch is a cluster member, it is managed and communicates with other

member switches through the IP address of the command switch. If the switch leaves the

cluster and it does not have its own IP address, you then must assign IP information to it to

manage and monitor it as a nonmember switch.

Note We recommend that you assign an IP address to the switch even if the switch is or

will be a cluster member so that if the switch is removed from the cluster, it remains

manageable as a nonmember switch.

For more information about IP information, see the “Assigning or Changing IP

Information” section on page 3-70 or the “IP Conﬁguration Menu” section on page 4-20.