Stacking Dell PowerConnect Switches: 8132, 8132F, 8164, 8164F
9
3.
A unit is selected as standby by the administrator, and a fail over action is manually initiated or
occurs due to a Master unit failure.
Note:
The terms
Master
and
Manager/Management Unit
are often used interchangeably in
regards to stacking.
In most cases, a switch that is added to an existing stack becomes a stack member, and not the
Management Unit. When a switch is added to the stack, one of the following scenarios takes place
regarding the management status of the new switch:
If the switch has the Management Unit function enabled but another Master unit is already
active, then the switch changes its configured Management Unit value to disabled.
If the Management Unit function is unassigned and there is another Management Unit in
the system, then the switch changes its configured Management Unit value to disabled.
If the Management Unit function is enabled or unassigned and there is no other
Management Unit in the system, then the switch becomes Management Unit.
If the Management Unit function is disabled, the unit remains a non-Management Unit.
If the entire stack is powered OFF and ON again, the unit that was the Management Unit before the
reboot remains the Management Unit after the stack resumes operation.
A Unit number for the switch can be manually set. To avoid unit-number conflicts, one of the following
scenarios takes place when adding a new member to the stack:
If the switch has a unit number that is already in use, then the unit added to the stack
changes its configured unit number to the lowest unassigned unit number.
If the switch added does not have an assigned unit number, then the switch sets its
configured unit number to the lowest unassigned unit number.
If the unit number is configured and there are no other devices using the unit number, then
the switch starts using the configured unit number.
If the switch detects that the maximum number of units already exist in the stack making it
unable to assign a unit number, then the switch sets its unit number to unassigned and
does not participate in the stack.
After the stack is created, the
show switch
command displays the roles of each switch.
console#
show switch
Management Standby Preconfig Plugged-in Switch Code
SW Status Status Model ID Model ID Status Version
--- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------- ---------- ---------
1 Mgmt Sw
PCT8164F PCT8164F OK 5.0.0.3
2 Stack Mbr Oper Stby PCT8132F PCT8132F OK 5.0.0.3
3 Stack Mbr PCT8132F PCT8132F OK 5.0.0.3
4 Stack Mbr PCT8164F PCT8164F OK 5.0.0.3
5 Stack Mbr PCT8164 PCT8164 OK 5.0.0.3
6 Stack Mbr PCT8164F PCT8164F OK 5.0.0.3
