- Cisco StackWise
Cisco StackWise is a technology offered by
Cisco Systems that allows for up to nineCatalyst switch 3750 seriesswitch es to operate as though they were one 32-Gbit/s switch. This allows for greater resiliency, and performance.One switch from the stack will act as the master switch. The master switch will maintain the stack and allow you to configure and monitor the whole stack as though one via a single console.
If one switch fails the remaining switches will continue to operate by looping back any information that would normally traverse the failed switch, effectively bypassing it. If the master switch fails, the next switch in the stack will automatically take over as master. This feature means greater redundancy, as one switch's failure will not bring about a failure of the entire stack.
As each switch contains the entire configuration for the stack one of the benefits of this technology is the ability to replace a down switch (any including master) with a new un-programmed switch. The stack will configure the new switch on the fly and allow for minimal downtime
StackWise effectively replaced the
GigaStack found on lower-price models such as Catalyst 35xx and 29xx series.Recently, there is a new variation of the technology, known as Cisco Stackwise Plus, offering 64Gbps nonblocking switching fabric speed.
Master Selection
The master switch selection is determined by uptime of the individual switches. As such for initial setup power up sequence is important for configuration.
If the current master fails the next highest uptime switch takes over as master.
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