C9500/C9600 Stackwise Virtual: Limitations for Standby Console

[alf]

Hello,
we have some Stackwise Virtual Clusters with C9500s or with C9600, and the active and standby devices do have some larger distances.
Per default, the console on the standby unit is disabled, so if you are on the console you cannot do anything and if you´re
in trouble you sometimes need to walk around the two locations, which consumes some time.
Therefore I tried to enable the standby console (redundancy, main-cpu, standby console enable).
Now I can login locally to the standby device. However, the capabilities are still not much, since
1) I see connected interfaces as not-connected
2) I don´t see any protocol information (such as cdp, routing etc.)
3) I cannot switch the control plane to get the active local
Probably this is designed that way since on the standby switch, there is no control plane information.
However, then I ask myself, whats the purpose of allowing to enable the console on the standby switch ?
Thank you for any comments and best regards
Alfred

[balaji.bandi · Accepted solution]

That is always a Limitation for any HA, SVL, or stacking technology. Only a Master can do all tasks; standby always has limitations.

(such as cdp, routing etc.)

Most of the commands you can issue from Master, since master aware all the topology information (technically)

There is no need for console access; it is only required when a device has an issue that requires local console troubleshooting.

[alf]

Hello Balaji, thanks for commenting. For stacks I agree because the members are close together, and you can simply switch
your console cable if needed. However, for stackwise virtual you may have a larger distance, so walking to the peer takes some
time. Thats the reason I asked this question.

[balaji.bandi]

I agree with you; what is the use case in the case of a split brain?  (That is the reason you have different connections, peer links, and dad links to detect this.) - Add more links for redundancy.

I have been using SVL for more than five years with a Cat 9500. I have never had to connect console

I've used VSS for over 15 years in the same case here, too.

[alf]

We are using SWV in a industrial plant. So we´ve located the important switches in buildings where fiber infrastructure is available and secure. But there are no users. So if I am out there to add some new downside switches or upgrade the bandwidth and patch the new ports I would like to doublecheck the connectivity before leaving the room. From here I do not have ssh access to the box.

[balaji.bandi]

Not sure if i understand the scenario you're explaining here.