- Enterasys Gigabit and Fast Ethernet Switches Hardware Installation Guide

Configuring Switches in a Stack
SecureStack B2 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fa mily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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: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switch:
a. Previouslyassigned/electedmanagementswitch
b. Managementassignedpriority(values1–15)
c. Hardwarepreferencelevel
d. HighestMACAddress