Operational Notes:

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

- System-level (global) features that apply to all stack members
- Interface-level features for each stack member

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. A set of factors determine which switch is elected the stack master. One of the factors is the stack member priority value. The switch with the highest priority value becomes the stack master.

A higher priority value for a stack member increases its likelihood to be elected stack master and to retain its stack member number. The priority value can be 1 to 15. The default priority value is 1.

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 settings for each stack member. Each stack member has a current copy of these files for back-up purposes.

You manage the switch stack through a single IP address. The IP address is a system-level setting and is not specific to the stack master or to any other stack member. You can manage the stack through the same IP address even if you remove the stack master or any other stack member from the stack.

A switch stack has up to nine stack members connected through their StackWise ports. A switch stack always has one stack master.

Command Usage Notes:

You can display the stack member number by using the user EXEC command:

Switch#show switch

You can manually change the stack member number by using the global configuration command:

Switch(Config)#switch (current-stack-member-number) renumber (new-stack-member-number)

The new number goes into effect after that stack member resets.

A single switch can be reset in the stack by using the privileged EXEC command:

Switch#reload slot (stack-member-number)

You can change the priority value for a stack member by using the global configuration command:

Switch(Config)#switch (stack-member-number) priority (new-priority-value)

To manually upgrade a stack member using the IOS from another stack member:

Switch#archive copy-sw /destination-system (destination-stack-member-number)
/force-reload (source-stack-member-number)

To run a command (such as show version) on a single switch in the stack:

remote command (stack-member-number) show version

Valid values for stack-member-number are 1-9