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PowerConnect B-Series FCX Configuration Guide 123
53-1002266-01
Managing your IronStack
5
IronStack unit priority
A unit with a higher priority is more likely to be elected Active Controller. The priority value can be 0
to 255 with a priority of 255 being the highest. The default priority value assigned to the Active
Controller and Standby is 128.
You can assign the highest priority value to the stack unit you want to function as the Active
Controller. When you enter a new priority value for a stack unit, that value takes effect immediately,
but does not affect the current Active Controller until the next reset. For details, refer to “Changing
the priority of a stack unit” on page 123.
You can give your Active and Standby Controllers the same priority, or different priorities (Active
highest, Standby second-highest). When Active and Standby Controllers have the same priority, if
the Active fails and the Standby takes over, then the original Active becomes operational again, it
will not be able to resume its original role if the new Active Controller has more members.
NOTE
For two unit stacks, this behavior does not apply. When the Active and Standby Controllers have the
same priority, the Active Controller will always resume its original role.
In the same situation, when the priorities of the Active and Standby Controllers are different, the
old Active Controller will regain its role and will reset the other units.
For example, suppose both Active and Standby Controllers have the same priority. If there are more
than two units in a stack and the Active Controller leaves and comes back, it cannot win back the
Active role because the new Active Controller has more members than the old Active Controller,
which has no members. If there are only two units in a stack, the old Active Controller may win back
the Active role if it has a lower unit ID. In this case, both the old Active Contoller and new Active
Controller have no members, so the unit with the lower unit ID wins the Active role.
If you want to assign the same priority to the Active and Standby Controllers, you must do so after
the stack is formed. This prevents the intended Standby Controller from becoming the Active
Controller during stack construction.
Changing the priority of a stack member will trigger an election that takes effect immediately
unless the Active Controller role changes. If this is the case, the changes will not take effect until
after the next stack reload.
To display stack member priority values, enter the show stack command.
PowerConnect(config-unit-3)# show stack
alone: standalone, D: dynamic config, S: static config
ID Type Role Mac Address Pri State Comment
1 S FCX624 active 0012.f2eb.a900 128 local Ready
2 S FCX624 standby 00f0.424f.4243 0 remote Ready, member after reload
3 S FCX624 member 001b.ed5d.a100 200 remote Ready, active after reload
PowerConnect(config-unit-3)#
Changing the priority of a stack unit
To change the priority value for a stack unit, enter the priority command.
PowerConnect(Config)# stack unit 1
PowerConnect(Config-unit-1)# priority 128
Syntax: priority <num>
• <num> is a value from 0 - 255. 255 is the highest priority.