ExtremeSwitching (Other)

Hi all,
I have a question regarding stacking. We purchased 3 X450e-48p switches off of EBay, and I want to stack them. I found an article indicating that all of the switches had to be the same license level, EXOS Version and Active Partition. Two of the three are at the same license level (Advanced Edge) and are running the same EXOS version - in the active partition anyway, the third license level is Edge, and its running a newer EXOS version. Will they still stack? If not, can i copy the EXOS firmware from one to the other? If so, how?
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

David

Hello David,

If you follow the directions to get them to see each other and do the easy stacking they should stack together. However, I would position the switch with the lower license level and different exos version as the lower switch. Essentially forcing it to be slot 3. The switch will most likely come up as failed under the "show slot" command. From here you can run the "synchronize slot 3" command and it will push the images from the master to slot 3. Slot 3 will go down for this time and it will take about 15 minutes. If the slot 3 comes back and it is still failed you can configure the master-capability for lost 3 from the master and turn it off.

"configure stacking slot 3 master-capability off"
"reboot slot 3"

The license levels only have to match on master-capable switches. Slot 3 will never be able to become master or backup but it will function normally in the stack.

I hope this helps and let me know if you have any questions.

Hi David,

In order for the switches to be master capable, they have to have the same license level. I'd recommend to have the two switches with Advanced Edge as Master/Backup and then the third to just be the Standby node.

The image can't be copied from switch to switch as it doesn't have a TFTP server on it, just a TFTP client. Also the image isn't stored in an uncompressed/installable format on the switch.

Thanks
Brad

I believe the firmware version 21.x.x.x comes with the advanced edge license now, there is no need to purchase it anymore.

Patrick,
I ran through the steps and sure enough, slot 3 failed. I ran the synchronize command on it, and slot 3 now says "Present" instead of failed, and running show slot 3 indicates Last Error: License mismatch. Also, the Management LED on the front panel is off instead of blinking. I assume that this is normal for this config?
Regarding John's comment about the firmware version, is it readily available, and what advantage would there be in upgrading - aside from getting the third switch on the same license level?
Thanks,
David

We use the routing and OSPF functions that come with the upgrade

Hi David,

Run a "show stacking" and then grab the mac address for node 3. Then run the command "configure stacking node-address

Brad,
Did as you instructed, now the Management LED is flashing amber and slot 3 State is "Present" instead of "operational" and Current State is Fail: License Mismatch

David

It's also missing a bunch of info when I run Show Slot 3 - Download % is 0, S/N is blank, Node MAC is all 00
Image selected, primary and secondary version all blank as well.

Can you send:

"show stacking"
"show stacking configuration"
"show slot"

From the master in the stack.

Slot-1 Stack.1 # show stacking
Stack Topology is a Ring
Active Topology is a Ring
Node MAC Address Slot Stack State Role Flags
------------------ ---- ----------- ------- ---
*00:04:96:36:ba:48 1 Active Master CA-
00:04:96:51:da:52 2 Active Backup CA-
00:04:96:36:1f:fe 3 Active

Any thoughts on what to do next? If I can't upgrade the license level on the one switch, can I downgrade the other two to just "Edge"? If that would make creating a stack easier, then I am okay with that, Just need to know how.

That is interesting. It looks like slot 3 is active in the stack (without a role) but missing in the "show slot" output. Was slot 3 removed at any point while grabbing these outputs? Can you trey rebooting the entire stack?

There is a way to downgrade the license for the entire stack to edge using the command:

"configure stacking slot

Results after rebooting stack:

Slot-1 Stack.8 # show stacking
Stack Topology is a Ring
Active Topology is a Ring
Node MAC Address Slot Stack State Role Flags
------------------ ---- ----------- ------- ---
*00:04:96:36:ba:48 1 Active Master CA-
00:04:96:51:da:52 2 Active Backup CA-
00:04:96:36:1f:fe 3 Active

Downgrading the license on the 2 and rebooting the stack made it all come up operational. Thank you everyone for your assistance.

Starting with 22.4, there's a "clone" feature!
https://documentation.extremenetworks.com/exos_22.4/EXOS_21_1/Getting_Started/c_cloning_switches.sht...

Drew,
These are not G2 switches, so unfortunately, I cannot upgrade past EXOS 15.3.
Thanks anyway for the suggestion.
David

I was posting it here in case others find this thread in the future.