@snakkes wrote:
Decent article. One question though, we currently have 2 separate 5406 running stuffed with modules operating without VSF. We have a disaster site coming up in a few months and would like vsf enable them for enabling redundant connections to the other DR site. I know about the v3 and firmware requirement but if both modules have to run factory config when enabling vsf then we have some work redesigning all firewalls, netscaler, cisco etc. Do both switches need to run factory configuration?
Regards
Snakkes
This question somehow got missed when it was originally posted — sorry about that!
Enabling VSF does not require that the initial switch be in a factory default configuration, though it does require that the switch be in v3-only mode (no allow-v2-modules must be configured). If VSF is enabled on a switch with an existing configuration, all interface settings are updated to the VSF member/port convention (e.g., port A1 on member 1 will be updated to 1/A1), but the configuration remains otherwise unmodified.
However, when the second member (and beyond, for the 2930F) joins the domain, its configuration will be replaced with that of the commander, so any port assignments, VLANs, or other chassis-specific configuration that previously existed there would no longer be present after VSF merge. You can work around this by pre-provisioning the second member's configuration on the commander before joining it to the stack (modifying port numbers appropriately).
Use the following commands to prepare the commander to add the second member to the stack:
switch(config)# vsf member 2 type [ j9850a | j9851a ]
switch(config)# module 2/A type <part number>
switch(config)# module 2/B type <part number>
...
switch(config)# vsf member 2 link 1 <ports>
[ Add member-specific port/VLAN configuration here ]
Once this has been done, factory reset the second switch and connect the VSF links using the ports specified in the configuration. The second member should detect the VSF domain and join automatically, using the pre-staged configuration.