Chapter 4: Operation of Web-based Management
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Clear: Clear log data.
4.2.8 Virtual Stack
Function name: Virtual Stack
Function description: Virtual Stack Management (VSM) is the group management function. It allows you to automatically group switches that
are in the same LAN. One switch will be the master device, and the others in this group will become the slave devices.
VSM offers a simple centralized management function. You don’t need to remember the address of all devices, since the manager can
manage the network using the address of the Master device. Instead of SNMP or Telnet UI, VSM is only available in Web UI (not SNMP or
Telnet UI). When one switch becomes the Master, two rows of buttons for group devices will appear on the top of its Web UI. When you
press these buttons, users can connect the Web UI of the devices of the group in the same window without logging in these devices.
The top left button is only for the Master device. The background color of the button you press changes to represent that the device is
under your management.
NOTE: Logging into the switch via the console
will remove the grouping temporarily. Each device in the group will be shown as a station
address (the last number of IP Address) + device name on the button (for example, 196_LPB4008A). Otherwise, it will show ” ---- “ if no
corresponding device exists.
Once the devices join the group successfully, then they are can be managed via Master device, and user will not be able to manage them
via telnet/console/web individually.
Up to 16 devices can be grouped for VSM; however, only one Master is allowed to exist in each group. For Master redundancy, users may
configure more than two devices as Master, but the Master device with the smaller MAC value will be the Master one. All 16 devices can
become Master devices and back up each other.
Figure 4-14. Virtual stack configuration screen.
Figure 4-15.
Parameter description:
State: Activates or de-activates VSM. The default is Enable.
Role: The switch’s role in the virtual stack. There are two types of roles (master and slave). The default is Master.
Group ID: The group identifier (GID) identifies the VSM. Valid letters are A–Z, a–z, 0–9, “ - “ and “_” characters. The maximum length is 15
characters.