Before ordering
- Visual inspection of the racks
- Can we space the stack 1u apart from each member
- Usually need one 3m stack cable (top<->bottom), do we need to more ?
- Do we have power is it normal plug or female power cable ?
- Are power cables cisco notch or not ?
After the gear arrives we need to visit site to do the following:
• Check we got everything in the delivery.
• Unbox all the gear, take a picture of the serials.
• Check the power cables make sure they didn't ship the EU ones.
• Check if we got the correct power cables, do they matchup with what’s available in the racks, normal sockets or UPS (C13)
• Install any network modules and SFPs• Put the ears on get the stack going (See building the stack below)
• Provision and set priority (See building the stack below)
• If we have dual power supplies, can the racks accommodate the extra cables?
• Check the front of the rack, could the switch be replaced are there any network cables in the way?
• Is there room to install the new stack with a space between each switch?
• Check the back of the rack, keep in mind new switches are longer and stack cables come out further, can the switch be replaced, any cables in the way?
• Get a backup of the config on the current stack
• Take note of VLANs and trunk ports
Next site visit
• Convert the config
• Install the new switches in the rack
• Swap over cables
• Deal with any issues after end user testing
Building the stack
All switches need to be on the same licence and software before they will form a stack.
Boot one switch at a time and run the licence command below and check the software version.
Download and update the software version to latest stable release recommended by cisco if required.
It will need a reboot after running it. Also switch provision / priority.
WR and shut them all down.
Connect stack cables, boot master first, 10 seconds and boot the rest
Commands
license right-to-use activate ipservices all acceptEULA
switch 1 provision ws-c3850-48p (? Get the switch make by sh ver and enter that here)
switch 2 provision ws-c3850-48p
conf t
switch 1 priority 15
switch 2 priority 14
Top left to bottom right
right to next left
right to next lefts
continue until finished
Power stack cabling
Yellow cable -> yellow port
Green -> green
Copying the bin file from tftp server on my laptop to switch
copy tftp://10.56.3.200/cat3k_caa-universalk9.16.03.03.SPA.bin flash:
Install modes
Bundle Mode = BIN FILE
The switch can't boot an image over 400mb. The later images are nearly 500mb. Bundle mode the bin file is extracted into memory on boot. Install mode the bin file is extracted to several packages with a packages.conf pointing to the packages. Install mode is the recommended.
Converting BUNDLE -> INSTALL
request platform software package expand switch 1 file flash:cat3k_caa-universalk9.16.03.03.SPA.bin to flash:
Copy the bin and extract on all switches in the stack
Set your boot to packages.conf
boot system switch all flash:packages.conf
Enable the stack port
In rare cases the switch might ship with stack port disabled
switch 1 stack port 1 enable
sh switch
Auto upgrade other switches
software auto-upgrade
wr
Stack show commands
show switch
show switch 2
show switch detail
show switch nei
show switch stack-ports
show switch stack-ports summary - to see cable lengths
show redundancy
show redundancy state
More on upgrading the stack
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3850/software/release/16-8/release_notes/ol-16-8-3850.html#id_67699
