For a project at work I was working on an Aruba CX6200F stack and needed to replace a non-PoE switch with a PoE switch. You would think that this was going to be easy… WRONG! 😉
The goal of this project was to have a stack of 4×48 port switches operating together. The stack was build with two different Aruba models: 3x JL728A (PoE) and JL726A (non-PoE). This was due to mistake in the delivery. While stacking them, they all got their Member ID’s automatically and correctly.
Removing the non-PoE switch was not an issue at all: Simply removing the DAC cables and wiping the device! After replacing the non-PoE switch with a PoE model, the new switch joined as member 5 instead of taking the expected member 4. But WHY?
Why Member 5 instead of 4?
This had me confused, so I started troubleshooting. I removed the switch joined as member 5, wiping it again, and re-adding it again but I ended it up with the same behavior: Member 5 while I wanted it to be member 4.
After trying different methods and attempting to renumber it number 4, and many hours later, I finally figured out the cause! Needless to say, but it was a true facepalm moment! 😉
Why It Happened?
While I had previously checked the config and removed the VSF member ID4, I had missed the fact that “VSF Secondary-member 4” was still in my config. This meant that the stack has a provisioned config for member 4, tied to a non-PoE model. Therefore the new PoE switch didn’t match the expected hardware and was rejected as member 4, however, the VSF auto-assigned the new switch to the next free member ID: 5!
The Fix?
As soon as I facepalmed myself, I knew that the fix was going to be easy:
- I removed the member 5 from the config and disconnected the DAC kabels.
- I changed my secondary member to ID 3 and rebooted the stack.
- Meanwhile I connected to the switch (member 5) individually with a USB C cable, performed a “erase seroize” to reset it to factory defaults.
- Reconnected it to the stack again via DAC Cables.
And just like that…. The new PoE switch joined the stack correctly as member 4! Yaaay! This is how replacing a switch should go: Quick and Easy! 😉
Lessons Learned?
First of all, I should have paid more attention when building the stack in the fist place, especially when mixing specific hardware models. Truth to be told, the switches didn’t arrived at the same time and there were months in between the deliveries, otherwise I would have noticed the differences earlier.
Next, it’s essential to always double check the config and clear out any leftover config before replacing switches with different models!
Needless to say, this shouldn’t have taken that much time but I simply overlooked the VSF Seconday-member 4″ line in my config! This could have saved me a little bit of headache! 😉
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