DELL N3000 User Manual

Managing a Switch Stack

series switches. Likewise, Dell Networking N3000 series switches only stack 

with other Dell N3000 series switches. Dell Networking N4000 series switches 

stack with other Dell Networking N4000 series switches.

A stack master is elected or re-elected based on the following considerations, 

in order:

1 The switch is currently the stack master.
2 The switch has the higher MAC address. 
3 A unit is selected as standby by the administrator, and a fail over action is 

manually initiated or occurs due to stack master failure.

In most cases, a switch that is added to an existing stack will become a stack 

member, and not the stack master. When you add a switch to the stack, one 

of the following scenarios takes place regarding the management status of the 

new switch:

• If the switch has the stack master function enabled but another stack 

master is already active, then the switch changes its configured stack 

master value to disabled.

• If the stack master function is unassigned and there is another stack 

master in the system then the switch changes its configured stack master 

value to disabled.

• If the stack master function is enabled or unassigned and there is no other 

stack master in the system, then the switch becomes stack master. 

• If the stack master function is disabled, the unit remains a non-stack 

master.

If the entire stack is powered OFF and ON again, the unit that was the stack 

master before the reboot will remain the stack master after the stack resumes 

operation.
You can manually set the unit number for the switch. To avoid unit-number 

conflicts, one of the following scenarios takes place when you add a new 

member to the stack:

• If the switch has a unit number that is already in use, then the unit that 

you add to the stack changes its configured unit number to the lowest 

unassigned unit number.