Election Priority in Stack 2960-X

[Azuriste]

Hello , 

I deployed a stack of 4 2960-X Switches .I configure the Priority for each switch to know wich will be the Master  ( the switch wich have the priority more important will be the master ).My question : why we have two parametrs to configure Priority Election ( Priority Command and lowest Mac Address ) .i prefer to disable the Lowest Mac address parametre and maitain just the command priority for election .

is there a way to do this configuration please ?

Regards ,

[Seb Rupik]

Hi there,

Election based on lowest MAC address is the last evaluation in the election tiebreaker set of tests. The election process is hardwired and cannot be altered. You can however change some election parameters, the most obvious being the switch priority value.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst2960/software/release/12-2_53_se/configuration/guide/2960scg/swstack.html#35199

cheers,

Seb.

[rasmus.elmholt · Accepted solution]

Hi

Like in other protocols that need to elect a master the priority is the first parameter they look at. And the MAC is just the tiebreaker.(the same as with STP)

If you configure the priority the MAC address will only be used to elect the master among two devices with the same priority, configureation, software/hardware and uptime according to the election process.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/switches/catalyst-3750-series-switches/71925-cat3750-create-switch-stks.html#anc11

[paul driver]

Hello

just like to add - only switchs that participate. in stack master election will adhere to this - meaning if you reload the whole stack for some reason and your original master comes up to slowly it will be excluded from the election and won’t become the master even though it eventually comes back on line  This applys to any switch in the stack so in theory a Lower priority stack member can become the master in some circumstances. Even when you have higher priority members active