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5-3
Catalyst 2940 Switch Software Configuration Guide
78-15507-02
Chapter 5 Clustering Switches
Planning a Switch Cluster
Candidate Switch and Member Switch Characteristics
Candidate switches are cluster-capable switches that have not yet been added to a cluster. Member
switches are switches that have actually been added to a switch cluster. Although not required, a
candidate or member switch can have its own IP address and password (for related considerations, see
the “IP Addresses” section on page 5-12 and “Passwords” section on page 5-12).
To join a cluster, a candidate switch must meet these requirements:
• It is running cluster-capable software.
• It has CDP version 2 enabled.
• It is not a command or member switch of another cluster.
Planning a Switch Cluster
Anticipating conflicts and compatibility issues is a high priority when you manage several switches
through a cluster. This section describes these guidelines, requirements, and caveats that you should
understand before you create the cluster:
• Automatic Discovery of Cluster Candidates and Members, page 5-3
• HSRP and Standby Command Switches, page 5-8
• IP Addresses, page 5-12
• Host Names, page 5-12
• Passwords, page 5-12
• SNMP Community Strings, page 5-13
• TACACS+ and RADIUS, page 5-13
• Access Modes in CMS, page 5-13
• Management VLAN, page 5-14
• LRE Profiles, page 5-15
• Availability of Switch-Specific Features in Switch Clusters, page 5-15
Refer to the release notes for the list of Catalyst switches eligible for switch clustering, including which
ones can be command switches and which ones can only be member switches. See Chapter 3, “Getting
Started with CMS,” for the required software versions and browser and Java plug-in configurations.
Automatic Discovery of Cluster Candidates and Members
The command switch uses Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) to discover member switches, candidate
switches, neighboring switch clusters, and edge devices in star or cascaded topologies.
Note Do not disable CDP on the command switch, on cluster members, or on any cluster-capable switches
that you might want a command switch to discover. For more information about CDP, see Chapter 19,
“Configuring CDP.”