Stacking Aruba CX 6300 switches allows you to manage a group of switches as a single entity, increasing network availability and simplifying management. Aruba calls stacking VSF or Virtual Switching Framework.
Prerequisites:
- Two or more Aruba CX 6300 switches
- Appropriate stacking cables
- Refer to https://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/AOS-CX/10.05/HTML/5200-7324/index.html#book.html for more information.
Steps:
First, you’ll want to ensure you have a means to console into the switch using a USB-C cable or use the management port with the default DHCP client. The console port is only USB-C so you’ll need that cable and the chipset appears to be build into the switch itself and should be identified by your operating system and then within SecureCRT or whatever terminal emulator you use.
Next, you will want to ensure all switches in the stack are running the same version of code to begin with. You can upgrade the switches once they are stacked to speed up the upgrade process.
Wire the stacking cables between switches starting with port 50 on top/master switch to port 49 on next switch and so on repeating that pattern for all switches in the stack.
From the Master switch run:
conf t
vsf start-auto-stacking
The stack should form and the member switches will reboot.
Wait for switches to fully come back up.
Verify the stack using this command: show vsf
Check the orange plastic labels that slide out of the front panel of the switch to ensure the switch members are in proper order by verifying the MAC address of each switch in the stack.
Next, the switches can be upgraded from the WebGUI by using the management IP of the stack