topic RE: Newb Stacking question in ExtremeSwitching (Other)

Newb Stacking question

David_Gardner — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 00:58:00 GMT

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

RE: Newb Stacking question

Patrick_Voss — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 01:06:00 GMT

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.

RE: Newb Stacking question

BradP — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 01:06:00 GMT

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

RE: Newb Stacking question

Drew_C — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 01:06:00 GMT

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...

RE: Newb Stacking question

David_Gardner — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 01:06:00 GMT

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

RE: Newb Stacking question

Drew_C — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 01:06:00 GMT

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

RE: Newb Stacking question

John_Romero — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 01:26:00 GMT

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

RE: Newb Stacking question

David_Gardner — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 02:02:00 GMT

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

RE: Newb Stacking question

John_Romero — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 02:05:00 GMT

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

RE: Newb Stacking question

BradP — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 02:05:00 GMT

Hi David,

Run a "show stacking" and then grab the mac address for node 3. Then run the command "configure stacking node-address master-capability off" then "reboot node-address " this will force the slot 3 unit to turn off master capability. It should then join the stack.

The X450e isn't compatible with anything above EXOS 15.3, so not able to upgrade.

Thanks
Brad

RE: Newb Stacking question

David_Gardner — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 02:26:00 GMT

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

RE: Newb Stacking question

David_Gardner — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 02:30:00 GMT

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.

RE: Newb Stacking question

Patrick_Voss — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 00:27:00 GMT

Can you send:

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

From the master in the stack.

RE: Newb Stacking question

David_Gardner — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 01:51:00 GMT

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 CA-
* - Indicates this node
Flags: (C) Candidate for this active topology, (A) Active Node
(O) node may be in Other active topology
Slot-1 Stack.2 #

Slot-1 Stack.3 # show stacking configuration
Stack MAC in use: 02:04:96:36:ba:48
Node Slot Alternate Alternate
MAC Address Cfg Cur Prio Mgmt IP / Mask Gateway Flags Lic

------------------ --- --- ---- ------------------ --------------- --------- ---

*00:04:96:36:ba:48 1 1 Auto CcEeMm--- --
00:04:96:51:da:52 2 2 Auto CcEeMm--- --
* - Indicates this node
Flags: (C) master-Capable in use, (c) master-capable is configured,
(E) Stacking is currently Enabled, (e) Stacking is configured Enabled,
(M) Stack MAC in use, (m) Stack MACs configured and in use are the same,

(i) Stack MACs configured and in use are not the same or unknown,
(N) Enhanced protocol is in use, (n) Enhanced protocol is configured,
(-) Not in use or not configured
License level restrictions: (C) Core, (A) Advanced edge, or (E) Edge in use,
(c) Core, (a) Advanced edge, or (e) Edge configured,
(-) Not in use or not configured
Slot-1 Stack.3 #

Slot-1 Stack.3 # show slot
Slots Type Configured State Ports
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Slot-1 X450e-48p Operational 50
Slot-2 X450e-48p Operational 50
Slot-3 X450e-48p Empty 50
Slot-4 Empty 0
Slot-5 Empty 0
Slot-6 Empty 0
Slot-7 Empty 0
Slot-8 Empty 0

Slot-1 Stack.4 #

RE: Newb Stacking question

David_Gardner — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 20:57:00 GMT

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.

RE: Newb Stacking question

Patrick_Voss — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 21:06:00 GMT

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 license-level edge"

RE: Newb Stacking question

David_Gardner — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 22:35:00 GMT

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 CA-
* - Indicates this node
Flags: (C) Candidate for this active topology, (A) Active Node
(O) node may be in Other active topology

Slot-1 Stack.7 # show stacking configuration
Stack MAC in use: 02:04:96:36:ba:48
Node Slot Alternate Alternate
MAC Address Cfg Cur Prio Mgmt IP / Mask Gateway Flags Lic

------------------ --- --- ---- ------------------ --------------- --------- ---

*00:04:96:36:ba:48 1 1 Auto CcEeMm--- --
00:04:96:51:da:52 2 2 Auto CcEeMm--- --
00:04:96:36:1f:fe 3 3 Auto --EeMm--- --
* - Indicates this node
Flags: (C) master-Capable in use, (c) master-capable is configured,
(E) Stacking is currently Enabled, (e) Stacking is configured Enabled,
(M) Stack MAC in use, (m) Stack MACs configured and in use are the same,

(i) Stack MACs configured and in use are not the same or unknown,
(N) Enhanced protocol is in use, (n) Enhanced protocol is configured,
(-) Not in use or not configured
License level restrictions: (C) Core, (A) Advanced edge, or (E) Edge in use,
(c) Core, (a) Advanced edge, or (e) Edge configured,
(-) Not in use or not configured

Slot-1 Stack.9 # show slot
Slots Type Configured State Ports
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Slot-1 X450e-48p Operational 50
Slot-2 X450e-48p Operational 50
Slot-3 X450e-48p Failed 50
Slot-4 Empty 0
Slot-5 Empty 0
Slot-6 Empty 0
Slot-7 Empty 0
Slot-8 Empty 0

Slot-1 Stack.10 # show slot 3

Slot-3 information:
State: Failed
Download %: 0
Last Error: License Mismatch
Restart count: 1 (limit 5)
Serial number: N/A(0) N/A(0)
Hw Module Type: X450e-48p
Configured Type:
Ports available: 50
Recovery Mode: Reset
Node MAC: 00:00:00:00:00:00
Current State: FAIL (License Mismatch)
Image Selected:
Image Booted:
Primary ver:
Secondary ver:
Config Selected: NONE

Is there any potential pitfalls in downgrading the license on the other two switches, or will this likely solve my problem?

RE: Newb Stacking question

David_Gardner — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 00:30:00 GMT

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