Aruba Switch VSF Stacking CLI

[petben]

Hello, I'm trying to stack (VSF) 2 x Aruba 2930F switches using front SFP ports and DAC cables. Can someone please advise on the process, there's is a lot of different advice on net.

 

I am thinking:

 

Run this on switch 1:

 

vsf member 1 priority 200

vsf member 1 link 1 25

vsf member 1 link 1 26

vsf enable domain 1

 

 

 

Switch 1 reboots, connect the cables to switch 2 and run the following on switch 2:

 

vsf member 2 priority 100

vsf member 2 link 1 25

vsf member 2 link 1 26

vsf enable domain 1

 

 

- Does that look right?

- Can I use 2 cables to stack or is only a single connection supported with 2 switches?

- Do I need to run any commands at all on the second stack member or does it auto configure the ports once connected to the first configured stack member?

[3s-gtech]

I believe it's like the ArubaOS-CX switches, you can stack with two DACs (so you can chain them when stacking lots of switches for redundancy). The stacking ports on the second switch should be configured before attaching the stacking cables.

[Davit2005]

You can use 2 cables.

 

My advice would be to for 2 switches to use 1 link as you have done. You will only get stack topology with 2 devices you need 3 devices for a ring. I have found configuring both ports on 2 devices as one link better for failover.

 

You should only need to add the second port on subsequent switches from memory. You only need to add domain to the 1st switch and the 2nd switch should be completely at factory default with no configuration.

 

Alternatively you can pre-provision switches which I have found preferable.

 

vsf member type [should be on front of switch] mac-address [should be on bottom of switch]

 

i.e. vsf member 5 type jl253a MAC-address 089734-9b6c79

 

if you issue a sh vsf on the existing stack switch it should then show correct model

 

i.e. 5 089734-9b6c79 Aruba JL253A 2930F-24G-4SFP+ Switch 128 Provisioned

 

Then you can configure priority, link ports etc before connecting 2nd switch. This is very usefull if you are using 2930f switches of different type.

 

Any switch connected to a existing switch configured for VSF needs to be default factory configuration for the VSF to work. Once connected the switch will update it's firmware and join the stack, it is quite seemless or should be.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Davit2005

[Davit2005]

I believe it's like the ArubaOS-CX switches, you can stack with two DACs (so you can chain them when stacking lots of switches for redundancy). The stacking ports on the second switch should be configured before attaching the stacking cables.

 

2930f use VSF which can use any front ports as long as the speed of the ports is consistent through the stack, I'm not sure on the CX to be honest as have not worked on them. But yes only need 2 DAC cables, 2 would be preferable in case one gets accidently disconnected.

 

I believe the 2930M does not use VSF stacking though.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Davit2005

[petben]

Thanks all. This works now. The thing I’m not understanding is if the ‘link 1’ or ‘link 2’ setting is the physical link between stacked switches then why when you stack 2 switches with 2 cables all the stacking ports are configured as link 1?

 

(3 switch stacking makes sense, configured with 1 port link 1, the other link 2)

[Davit2005]

Thanks all. This works now. The thing I’m not understanding is if the ‘link 1’ or ‘link 2’ setting is the physical link between stacked switches then why when you stack 2 switches with 2 cables all the stacking ports are configured as link 1?

 

(3 switch stacking makes sense, configured with 1 port link 1, the other link 2)

 

I've jus found myself that if you have 2 links configured but only 2 switches the failover seems better, I'm not sure why but it jus seemed to failover quicker.

 

But having 2 cables even on one link is going to be better as you do not have to worry about one getting disconnected.

 

We usually at work just configure the 1st then just plug the rest in, if switches are the same type/model that doesn't matter.

 

It prob is jus as easy to pre-provision then you can just take the switches to the comms room and plug them in as respective order, no need to power all the switches up on your bench. Of course you could consider powering up that for making sure you have not got a DoA switch. But pre-provisioning would mean that you just have setup once for the whole stack and no need to go back to any switch and configure another VSF port.

 

BTW earlier 2930f only allowed 4 switches in a stack but newer firmware allows up to 8.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Davit2005