Allied Telesis AT-S63 - Manual (Page 70)

Chapter 2: AT-9400Ts Stacks
70 Section I: Basic Operations
Module ID Numbers
The switches of a stack are identified by module ID numbers. Each switch
must have it own unique number. The range is 1 to 8. The switches
assigned the module ID numbers 1 and 2 become the master switch and
the backup master switch of a stack, respectively.
The commands for managing the module ID numbers are SET STACK
and SHOW STACK. The SET STACK command should only be used
when a switch is functioning as a stand-alone device because there can
be unpredictable results if you change a switch’s module ID number when
it is part of a stack.
The module ID numbers of the switches do not have to match the physical
arrangement of the units in the stack. For example, any switch in a stack
can be assigned module ID number 1 and so be the master switch.
However, the units will be easier to identify if they are numbered in either
ascending or descending order in the equipment rack.
After you have assigned the module ID numbers to the switches and
begun to configure the parameter settings of a stack, you should not alter
the number assignments. The boot configuration file on the master switch
identifies the switches by their module ID numbers, and if you change the
numbers the master switch could assign the wrong configurations to the
switches the next time you reset or power on the stack.
Previous to version 4.0.0 of the AT-S63 Management Software, there
were two ways to assign the numbers. One way was to assign them
yourself. These were called static numbers because they didn’t change if
you added or removed switches from a stack. The other method was to let
the management software assign the number based on the MAC
addresses of the units. These numbers were called dynamic numbers
because the numbers could change if switches were added or removed.
With version 4.0.0 and later Allied Telesis recommends only static
numbers for the switches of a stack. The ID stack assignment of AUTO,
used to assign dynamic numbers, should only be used when the
AT-9400Ts Switches are used as stand-alone units.