Solved: 2960S switches' stack re-numbering.

cHa0sAngeL · ‎12-19-2013

Hi all,

I need some help with renumbering of the stacks in the 2960S switches.

Description:

The switches are now physically racked, from top-down, switch1, switch2, switch3, switch4. At least, this was what I thought. The switches' installation and stacking weren't setup by me. The switchports were patched in ascending order, to the patch panels' labelling.

Problem:

One day, I went into the switch's console and was astonished to find that the switches are arrange, in its configuration, in the order of switch1, switch2, switch4, switch3! This presents 2 main issues.

(1) Customer doesn't like it. They are as surprised as I am. I'm the guy who'll try to beautify the setup so I guess I'm pretty disturbed by the numbering issue.All the switchports are patched in ascending order, across all 4 switches in the stack. But now the switchports are patched not in the correct order, in the switches switch4 and switch3. Physically on the rack, the switchports are filled up on switch1, switch2, switch3, while switch4 has got some switchports available. So to further elaborate on my point, in the switch configuration, the switch4 has all the switchports filled up and switch3 is the one that has some switchports available.

(2) The switch stack has 2x 10G OneX cable to 2 core switches for link redundancy. Before I realised the problem, the first cable is connected to switch1 and the second cable to switch4 (rack view). In actual fact, the second cable is attached to the wrong switch; as shown in the configuration, it is connected toa switch3. Again, from the rack view, the cable is connected to the correct switch number. For that matter, I have re-attached the second OneX cable to switch3.

Actions Required:

(1) I need the switches' physical racking order to remain the same; switch1, switch2, switch3, switch4. I would choose not to do the manual arrangement. If I choose to do that, I will need to re-patch approximately 70 patch cords.

(2) I need to configure the ordering of the switch stacks (in the configuration) to reflect what is physically laid out on the rack. Right now, in the configuration, the switches are arranged switch1, switch2, switch4, switch3. Once that is done, I will move the second OneX cable to the last switch (switch4).

Well, this is the brief description of what are the intended actions. May I have some advise and comments from the community here? I have read some of the entries and got to know on how to assign the master role, which is not what is intended here. Do the configurations get the risk of getting wiped out or corrupt after changing?

Many thanks in advance.

- Jack

Output:

ASW01#sh switch detail

Switch/Stack Mac Address : e8ed.f3b2.f100

H/W Current

Switch# Role Mac Address Priority Version State

----------------------------------------------------------

*1 Master e8ed.f3b2.f100 14 1 Ready

2 Member e8ed.f365.a400 1 1 Ready

3 Member c025.5c00.b680 12 1 Ready

4 Member c025.5c00.b900 1 1 Ready

Stack Port Status Neighbors

Switch# Port 1 Port 2 Port 1 Port 2

--------------------------------------------------------

1 Ok Ok 2 4

2 Ok Ok 1 3

3 Ok Ok 4 2

4 Ok Ok 3 1

Jose Solano · ‎12-19-2013

Hi,

No, basically what I meat was to change the switch number in the stack using the CLI. See this link:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5023/products_configuration_example09186a00807811ad.shtml#number

Stack Member Numbers

The stack member number (1 to 9) identifies each member in the switch stack. The member number also determines the interface-level configuration that a stack member uses. You can display the stack member number if you use the show switchuser EXEC mode command.

3750-Stk>show switch
                                               Current
Switch#  Role      Mac Address     Priority     State
--------------------------------------------------------
 1       Slave     0016.4748.dc80     5         Ready
*2       Master    0016.9d59.db00     1         Ready

The default stack member number of a 3750 switch is 1. When it joins a switch stack, its default stack member number changes to the lowest available member number in the stack. Stack members in the same switch stack cannot have the same stack member number. Every stack member, which includes a standalone switch, retains its member number until you manually change the number or unless the number is already used by another member in the stack.

How do you manually change the member number?

Go to global configuration mode.
Issue the command switch current-stack-member-number renumber new-stack-member-number .
Return to the privileged EXEC mode and reload the member with the command reload slot current-stack-member-number .
After the member boots up, issue the command show switch to verify the stack member number. If the number is used by another member in the stack, the switch selects the lowest available number in the stack.

View solution in original post

Admin Eastland · ‎12-19-2013

phew...dude that's a lot of writing. Are you just trying to get the switches in acending order? You can control this by logging into the switch stack, and using switch 1 priority (1-15) 15 being most preferred and doing that stright down the line....i.e. switch 1 pri 15, switch 2 pri 14, switch 3 pri 13 this will give you the acending switch 1 switch 2 swich 3 you are looking for.

Usless I misunderstood.

cHa0sAngeL · ‎12-19-2013

So when the switches get the order changed, what happens to the switchports? Gi3/0/48 becomes Gi4/0/48?

Jose Solano · ‎12-19-2013

Hi,

As per the output of the show switch detial it looks that the ordering is correct:

H/W Current

Switch# Role Mac Address Priority Version State

----------------------------------------------------------

*1 Master e8ed.f3b2.f100 14 1 Ready

2 Member e8ed.f365.a400 1 1 Ready

3 Member c025.5c00.b680 12 1 Ready

4 Member c025.5c00.b900 1 1 Ready

You have the switches in that order 1,2,3,4 in the configuration as per this output that you included. You see switch 1 is the master then goes 2,3,4, or are you referring to the priority?

cHa0sAngeL · ‎12-19-2013

Yes the output is correct in the config. But, switch3 is now on the 4th place on my rack while switch4 is on the 3rd place on my rack.

Jose Solano · ‎12-19-2013

Hi,

Only If you renumber the switches on the configuration the ports number will change.

cHa0sAngeL · ‎12-19-2013

By re-numbering the switches do you mean altering the switch priority?

Jose Solano · ‎12-19-2013

Hi,