When your stack is operational, one switch is the primary switch, responsible for running network protocols and managing the stack.
To provide recovery in case of a break in the stack connections, you can configure redundancy by designating a backup switch to take over as primary if the primary switch fails. When you perform the initial software configuration of the stack, the “easy setup” configuration option automatically configures redundancy, with slot 1 as the primary and slot 2 as the backup. You can also configure additional switches as “primary-capable,” meaning they can become a stack primary in case the initial backup switch fails.
When assigning the primary and backup roles in mixed stacks, consider the feature scalability and the speed of each switch model. The easy setup configuration process selects primary and backup switches based on capability and speed. The following list shows the capabilities based on the ability to cross stack with other switch families. The most capable switches are shown at the top of each list:
5520 Series switches can be stacked with themselves, or with 5320 Series or 5420 Series switches.
5520 Series switches can also be stacked with 5720 Series switches. When creating a mixed stack of 5520 Series and 5720 Series switches, the Primary and Backup nodes must be 5720 Series switches and they must be configured for the Native V200 stacking method.
When easy setup compares two switches that have the same capability, the lower slot number takes precedence. Follow the same ranking hierarchy when you plan the physical placement of the switches in the stack.