Solved: four member switch stack

suthomas1 · ‎04-17-2013

Hi,

We have a current 3-stack 3750 ( 48-P,48-TS & 3750v2-48PS ) running fine.

There is a plan to introduce a fourth stack member ( 3750X-48P ) into this stack.

as per cisco documentation, it suggests to use 3750X as master for a mixed stack. In this case, we will need to upgrade current other 3 stack switches to a latest version.

Questions:-

1. Can we do a no-downtime ios upgrade on the existing 3-switch stack?

2. when this upgrade is done, is there any way to have the new ios pushed down to all three stack members at the same time or do we need to each member upgrade seperately?

3. for adding the fourth member, is it acceptable if master is ruuning ver eg. 12.2(55) and all rest of the members run ver 12.2(53) ? will this create any issues and will stacking be successful.

Appreciate all inputs.

Leo Laohoo · ‎04-17-2013

1. Can we do a no-downtime ios upgrade on the existing 3-switch stack?

Yes and no. If your clients are dual homed to different members of the switch, you can reload the switch one-at-a-time. If the clients are single-homed, then, no. There will be downtime of approximately 10 minutes for the entire stack or 6 minutes per switch.

2. when this upgrade is done, is there any way to have the new ios pushed down to all three stack members at the same time or do we need to each member upgrade seperately?

Use the command "archive download-sw /dest 1 /dest 2 /dest 3 tftp:///IOS.TAR" and this command will push the IOS to three members of the stack.

 3. for adding the fourth member, is it acceptable if master is ruuning ver eg. 12.2(55) and all rest of the members run ver 12.2(53) ? will this create any issues and will stacking be successful.

All switch members of the stack should and must be running the same IOS version. To answer your question, NO.

View solution in original post

Leo Laohoo · ‎04-17-2013

1. Can we do a no-downtime ios upgrade on the existing 3-switch stack?

Yes and no. If your clients are dual homed to different members of the switch, you can reload the switch one-at-a-time. If the clients are single-homed, then, no. There will be downtime of approximately 10 minutes for the entire stack or 6 minutes per switch.

2. when this upgrade is done, is there any way to have the new ios pushed down to all three stack members at the same time or do we need to each member upgrade seperately?

Use the command "archive download-sw /dest 1 /dest 2 /dest 3 tftp:///IOS.TAR" and this command will push the IOS to three members of the stack.

 3. for adding the fourth member, is it acceptable if master is ruuning ver eg. 12.2(55) and all rest of the members run ver 12.2(53) ? will this create any issues and will stacking be successful.

All switch members of the stack should and must be running the same IOS version. To answer your question, NO.

suthomas1 · ‎04-17-2013

thanks.

in the command line, what stands for dest1, dest2... "archive download-sw /dest 1 /dest 2 /dest 3"

being in stack there would only be a single ip address for the stack , in that case how would the ios be pushed down specifically to all three stack members?

Leo Laohoo · ‎04-17-2013

what stands for  dest1, dest2

Sorry, I was being lazy. It stands for "destination 1", "destination 2", "destination 3".

This "switch" allows the stack master to push the same IOS to the three members of the switch one-at-a-time.

suthomas1 · ‎04-17-2013

thanks. am i correct in saying that if i just input archive-download-sw tftp:(ip address)/IOSimage , that should be fine.

Sorry, i am confused if anything specific needs to be input in place of destination1-3.

thanks again.

Leo Laohoo · ‎04-18-2013

It doesn't hurt to ask questions, lest it be "stupid" or not. The only "stupid" questions are the ones you don't ask.

If you only use the command "archive download-sw" then this commands tells the 3750 stack master to un-archive the TAR to the active stack master. Using the "/destination #" makes it more easy.