VSS Configuration Changes

[CHANDIMAL RATNAYAKE]

Hi Guys,

We have two 4510 switches in a VSS domain. One of them is crashing. Cisco has instructed to swap the Supervisor in the crashing switch to a different slot for diagnosing the issue. My question is what would be the procedure to make this configuration change without breaking the VSS Domain. Appreciate if advice and direction.

Thanks in Advance

Chandimal

[Rajeev Sharma]

Hey Chandimal,

When you say breaking the VSS domain if you mean breaking of VSS?

If yes then answer is also yes, if you are physically removing the supervisor from slave chassis; it means there will be no VSS peer hence VSS will break. However the users if properly distributed over two chassis, they will not see any network outage.

HTH.

Regards,

RS.

[CHANDIMAL RATNAYAKE]

Hi Rajeevsh,

Thanks, yes I understand the availability of the other switch to end users. But what I'm not sure of is since i'm swapping the Supervisor to a different slot the VSL link port numbers will change. Also my vsl links are between the two supervisors. So I'm not sure what configuration changes I need to do to get the VSS working on the switch that I'll be swapping the supervisor.

Thanks

Chandimal

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi,

If the current sup is in slot 5 and you are planing to put it in slot 6, then you need to change your VSL port config.  For example, if the ports you are using are 5/4 and 5/5, you will need to change the config to 6/4 and 6/5.

HTH

[CHANDIMAL RATNAYAKE]

Hi Reza,

If that's the only change to VSS then it's easy enough but not 100% sure. Have you done this before without any issues? I'm a bit reluctant as this is a prod environment. And I don't want to go from the Scratch to rebuild the VSS domain and restore configs as this would be time consuming.

Thanks

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi,

I have never done this specific job of moving the sup from one slot to another for VSS. But I think the easiest way to do this is:

1-have an outage window

If the bad sup is in active chassis then you need to fail it over to the stand-by first.

if the bad sup is in the stand-by then you don't have to worry about the fail over as it is already the back-up chassis

2-add the VSL config to the new ports (I call it 6/4 and 6/5) and no shut the ports.

3-save your config

4-bring down the chassis

5-switch the sup to slot 6

6-connect the cables to ports 6/4 and 6/5

7-power up the chassis

HTH

[CHANDIMAL RATNAYAKE]

Thanks for that Reza. Will give it a go during a weekend.

[Reza Sharifi]

Good luck.

Let us know how it goes.

Reza

[CHANDIMAL RATNAYAKE]

Hi Reza,

Thanks for you advice. It all went well. Conclusion a faulty supervisor. Yesterday I tried to add the switch to the VSS domain with the new supervisor but failed due to license. My faulty supervisor had IPBase license but the replacement supervisor only has LANBase. What is the best way to transfer the license from the faulty supervisor to the new.

Thanks,

Chandimal

[InayathUlla Sharieff]

Chandimal,

Q.    How are licenses handled during the RMA of Supervisor Engine 7-E and 7L-E?

A.     Cisco will ship replacement Supervisor units with LAN Base license. All licenses except LAN Base need to be transferred from the faulty device to the replacement device to get a functionally equivalent replacement device. A simple TFTP copy of the .lic file to the replacement Supervisor will be required.

Or log a case with Cisco and Cisco licensing team would do it in fracture of a second :-)

HTH

[CHANDIMAL RATNAYAKE]

Hi in Insharie,

Licenses were pre installed on the chassis and we never receive any license files. Will contact cisco licensing team.

thanks

[CHANDIMAL RATNAYAKE]

Hi Guys, once license is sorted what is the correct procedure to add the switch with the new supervisor to the existing VSS domain.

   - update firmware and iOS to match the other switch and restore back of the running configuration to startup and reload with vsl links connected or is there a better method.

thanks,

chandimal