Add a Nortel 5520 to a running stack 2

[hologic01]

Hello,

I have a question concerning the hot-add of nortel switch to a running stack.

The only 'live add' thing I can find in the Nortel guide is exchanging of a failed switch.

Normally I bring the whole stack down and then add the new members. But to minimize network downtime it would be better to do it while the stack remains running.

Can it be done?
Any suggestions or 'best practice'

 

[DaddyOfThree]

You can "hot-add" a switch to an existing stack, you can also "hot-add" a switch to a standalone switch although you'll need to be careful to re-assign the switch IP address to the stack IP address in the configuration.

The best practice is to make sure the switch you're going to add is running the same firmware and software as the switch you already have running in production. While later versions of the ERS 5500 series software will automatically upgrade/downgrade a switch when it's added to the stack why take the chance if you don't need to. As with any stack make sure that only one of the switches has the toggle switch set to "base" (located at the back of the switch near the cascade cables).

Good Luck!

 

[curtismo]

Question - Can you hot-change a switch to become a base? I thought I read somewhere that the base switch is only read at boot time.

And as to the second part, I agree. Someone in our organization ran into this when adding a switch with older code to an existing stack and it didn't quite come up. Now, I had the ability to do some bench testing (5.1.1 code running and adding a 5.0.x code switch). They will upgrade - but it takes 5-7 minutes for it to accomplish the task. You just have to wait it out.

I still like knowing that I have like-like switches being added together and not have to worry.

 

[DaddyOfThree]

I don't believe you can change the "base" unit on the fly... if the base unit goes down the stack will elect a temporary base unit until the original base unit recovers but that's more for survivability than anything.

Cheers!

 

[hologic01]

Thank you for the information.

I'm going to upgrade the switches before adding them the stack (running software version 5).

Just to be on the safe side.

 

[hologic01]

I upgraded the new switch with the right firmware (FW:5.0.0.4 SW:v5.1.0.014).

But I am a little unclear on the "hot-add" procedure

Is the "add" procedure the same as the "replacement" procedure.

- download the config-file from the current stack
- upload the config-file to the new switch
- set the unitnumber (a new number since it will be a new member)--> where can I do this, or will the new switch automaticlly do this for me?
- Turn off the new unit
- Connect the stack cascade cables to the new switch -> this unit will be number 5 of 5 in the stack
- power up the new unit
- the new member should be visible in the stack

I have also a few questions about the cascade-cables:

If I remove/reattach the cascade cables from the running stack (powered on) will their be a interruption in network traffic??

Is it safe to remove/reattach the cascade-cables are removed from a live stack or should it be done in powered down state?

 

[curtismo]

Oops, I guess I missed that you already had a running stack. This should be an easy change.

- You should not have to download/upload any configs to the new switch.

- You should not have an interruption in network traffic, as long as you have complete stack loop prior to disconnecting your cables. Check for green up/down lights on all switches in the stack

- The unit number is determined automatically by the position in the stack. You will want to add this switch onto the bottom of the stack so you won't miss up any current programming that refers to a particular port.

- Once you insert the new switch into the stack, and power up, wait...it may take 5-7 minutes before the switch joins the rest of the stack. I'm also assuming that the code version you put on the new switch matches the code on the rest of the switches in the stack.

 

[hologic01]

Hello curtismo,

I added the new switch this morning and it worked like a charm. No downtime and the new nortel switch was correctly added to the stack.

I also would like to thank DaddyofThree for the input.