Stacking 2960-S and 2960-X - Andrew Roderos https://networkjutsu.

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Stacking 2960-S and 2960-X

15 Nov, 2013 in Switching by Andrew Roderos

Catalyst 2960X is the newest Catalyst switches released by Cisco not too long ago. It’s the new
version of the Cisco Catalyst 2960S which allows stacking of up to eight switches and with 80
Gbps bandwidth using the optional FlexStack+ module. For more information about the
specifications of the switch, please head over to Cisco’s site.

Mixed Stack
As mentioned, the 2960X allows stacking of up to eight switches and can provide up to 80
Gbps bandwidth with FlexStack+. Since 2960S can only stack up to four and can only provide
up to 40 Gbps bandwidth, both switches are architecturally different and one would think that
it shouldn’t stack. However, Cisco designed the 2960X to be backward compatible with the
2960S to provide its customers investment protection.

Since both switches are architecturally different, there has to be some restrictions with mixed
stack configuration. Yes, there are restrictions with mixed stack and below are the restrictions:
Stacking is not supported on switches running the LAN Lite image. All switches in the
stack must be running the LAN Base image.
In a mixed stack of Catalyst 2960-X and Catalyst 2960-S switches, the number of
supported stack members is reduced from eight to four.
In a mixed stack of Catalyst 2960-X and Catalyst 2960-S switches, full stack bandwidth is
reduced from 80 Gbps to 40 Gbps.
In a mixed stack of Catalyst 2960-X and Catalyst 2960-S switches, stack convergence
time is increased from milliseconds to 1 to 2 seconds.

Preparation
Stacking 2960S or 3750 didn’t require a network professional to configure the switches. All the
network professional needed to do is connect the FlexStack or StackWise cables and the
switches will form the stack. With a mixed stack configuration, there’s some work for the
network professional to get it working.
In this scenario, the existing stack is 2960S with 12.2 IOS image and 2960X with 15.0 IOS
image. As with the 2960S and 3750, the IOS needs to match first before the switch can join
the stack properly. That said, the 2960S needs to be upgraded to the same software train as
the 2960X to make it work. A familiar log message and show switch output like the one
below will greet the network professional when there’s an IOS version mismatch.

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Stacking 2960-S and 2960-X - Andrew Roderos https://networkjutsu.com/stacking-2960s-and-2960x/

Switch#
%STACKMGR-4-STACK_LINK_CHANGE: Stack Port 2 Switch 2 has changed to state UP
*Mar 1 00:16:55.168: %STACKMGR-4-SWITCH_ADDED_VM: Switch 1 has been ADDED to the stack (VERSION_MISMATCH
*Mar 1 00:20:55.182: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_COPY_SW_INITIATED: Auto-copy-software process initiated for switch
*Mar 1 00:20:55.606: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_COPY_SW:
*Mar 1 00:20:55.606: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_COPY_SW: Searching for stack member to act
*Mar 1 00:20:55.606: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_COPY_SW: as software donor...
*Mar 1 00:20:55.606: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_COPY_SW: Software was not copied
*Mar 1 00:20:55.606: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW_INITIATED: Auto-advise-software process initiated for
*Mar 1 00:20:55.984: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW:
*Mar 1 00:20:55.984: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW:
*Mar 1 00:20:55.984: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW: Systems with incompatible software have
*Mar 1 00:20:55.984: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW: been added to the stack. The storage
*Mar 1 00:20:55.984: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW: devices on all of the stack members have
*Mar 1 00:20:55.984: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW: been scanned, and the software required
*Mar 1 00:20:55.984: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW: to make all stack members compatible with
*Mar 1 00:20:55.989: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW: each other was not found. The "archive
*Mar 1 00:20:55.989: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW: download-sw" command can be used to
*Mar 1 00:20:55.989: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW: install software off of the network from
*Mar 1 00:20:55.989: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW: a tar file.
*Mar 1 00:20:55.989: %IMAGEMGR-6-AUTO_ADVISE_SW:

Switch#sho sw
Switch/Stack Mac Address : f4ea.67ad.7580
H/W Current
Switch# Role Mac Address Priority Version State
----------------------------------------------------------
1 Member 64e9.50f1.8100 1 2 Version Mismatch
*2 Master f4ea.67ad.7580 1 1 Ready

While the 2960S stack is being upgraded to the same software train as the 2960X, make sure
that the 2960X is ready to join the stack. To prepare the 2960X to join the 2960S stack,
there’s one command needed to make sure that it joins the stack and is shown below. But
really though, issuing two commands is my recommendation for the preparation.
The command needed is switch stack port-speed 10. As the command implies, it sets the
port speed of the stack port to 10 Gbps since the default of 2960X is 20 Gbps. Without this
command, the 2960S stack won’t recognize anything connected to the stack ports at all and of
course the mixed stack won’t form. The sample output of the command is shown below.
Switch(config)#switch stack port-speed 10
WARNING: Changing the stack speed may result in a
stack speed mismatch .
Do you want to continue?[confirm]
New stack speed will be effective after next reload

To bring it back to default, please issue the command below.

Switch(config)#no sw stack port-speed
WARNING: Changing the stack speed may result in a
stack speed mismatch .
Do you want to continue?[confirm]
New stack speed will be effective after next reload

Make sure to save the configuration or else it’ll return to its default state. The switch will
indicate that the configuration has changed and will ask if you want to save it or not. As
mentioned earlier, this is all you need but issuing another command is my recommendation to
save a little bit of time. Without the second command, the booting will take a little bit of time
since the 2960X will reboot to match the existing stack’s SDM preference. A sample output of
the boot up is shown below.

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Election Complete
Member, Switch 1 elected Master
HCOMP: Compatibility check PASSED
Waiting for feature sync....
Waiting for Port download...Complete
Stack Master is ready

!!!!!!! SDM MISMATCH !!!!!!!

Master Template is default & Local Template is lanbase-default
Reloading because of sdm template mismatch

As the output shown above, the SDM preference of the 2960S by default is called default.
While, the 2960X default is called lanbase-default. Show output of the default SDM preference
of each platform are shown below.
2960X

Switch#show sdm prefer

The current template is "lanbase-default" template.
The selected template optimizes the resources in
the switch to support this level of features for
0 routed interfaces and 1024 VLANs.

2960S

Switch#sho sdm prefer

The current template is "default" template.
The selected template optimizes the resources in
the switch to support this level of features for
0 routed interfaces and 255 VLANs.

To change the SDM preference on the 2960X, please issue the command below. Please don’t
forget to save the configuration before reloading. Once the configurations are done, the 2960X
is ready to join the 2960S stack.
Switch(config)#sdm prefer ?
default Default bias
lanbase-default Enhanced support for both IPv4 and IPv6 Routing
lanbase-routing Supports both IPv4 and IPv6 Routing

Switch(config)#sdm prefer default

Changes to the running SDM preferences have been stored, but cannot take effect
until the next reload.
Use 'show sdm prefer' to see what SDM preference is currently active.

Verification
Just as any other Cisco stack, to verify if the switch(es) join the stack properly is to issue the
command show switch, as shown below.
Switch#sh sw

Switch Ports Model SW Version SW Image

------ ----- ----- ---------- ----------
1 52 WS-C2960X-48FPD-L 15.0(2)EX3 C2960X-UNIVERSALK9-M
* 2 52 WS-C2960S-48FPS-L 15.0(2)EX3 C2960S-UNIVERSALK9-M

Thoughts

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Stacking 2960-S and 2960-X - Andrew Roderos https://networkjutsu.com/stacking-2960s-and-2960x/

It’s good thing that Cisco is providing investment protection for their customers. It’s also good
at Cisco released a new version of 2960 platform that supports more than four switches in a
stack. Being able to stack only four has always been my complaint with the 2960 platform. I’ve
always liked the 3750 platform since it can stack up to nine switches but now 2960X has
earned its place with me.
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About Andrew Roderos

Andrew Roderos is an IT professional who specializes in networking, a CCIE aspirant, and
forever a student of technology. Technologies that he is mostly interested in are routing and
switching, virtualization, data center, and a little bit of network security. Outside of the
information technology world, he enjoys reading science fiction books, manga, and
photography.

View all posts by Andrew Roderos →

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