Netgear GS752TXS Technical Information download pdf (Page 81)

Chapter 3: Configuring Stacking Switches | 81

3. Configuring Stacking Switches

Stacking Overview

A stackable switch is a switch that is fully functional operating standalone, but can also be set-up

to operate together with up to six other switches with this group of switches showing the

characteristics of a single switch while having the port capacity of the sum of the combined

switches.

One of the switches in the stack controls the operation of the stack. This switch is called the

stack master. The remaining switches in the stack are stack members. The stack members use

stacking technology to behave and work together as a unified system. Layer 2 and above

protocols present the entire switch stack as a single entity to the network.

The stack master is the single point of stack-wide management. From the stack master, you

configure the following:

• System-level (global) features that apply to all stack members

• Interface-level features for all interfaces on any stack member

A switch stack is identified in the network by its network IP address. The network IP address is

assigned according to the MAC address of the stack master. Every stack member is uniquely

identified by its own stack member number.

All stack members are eligible stack masters. If the stack master becomes unavailable, the

remaining stack members participate in electing a new stack master from among themselves.

The following factors determine which switch is elected the stack master:

• The switch that is master always has priority to retain the role of master

• Assigned priority

• MAC address

All stack members must run the same software version to ensure compatibility between stack

members. The software versions on all stack members, including the stack master, must be the

same. This helps ensure full compatibility in the stack protocol version among the stack

members. If a stack member is running a software version that is not the same as the stack

master, then the stack member is not allowed to join the stack.

The stack master contains the saved and running configuration files for the switch stack. The

configuration files include the system-level settings for the switch stack and the interface-level

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Netgear GS752TXS Technical Information Page 81