Rescuing a Stack that has No Primary-Capable Node
It is possible for all nodes in a stack to have primary-capability set to OFF. For example, if a stack was operating with no redundancy (for example, with one primary-capable node) and the primary node failed, all other nodes in the stack restart as standby nodes and there is no primary node.
Another example is the case where you dismantle a stack before using the unconfigure stacking command or the unconfigure switch all command. In this case, the individual switches are configured for stacking, are not primary-capable, and are isolated from a stack primary.
In this situation, the only security information available is the failsafe account. If you know the failsafe user name and password, you can log into any node and reconfigure primary-capability or redundancy. However, if you do not know the failsafe account information, there is another way you can change the configuration.
The procedure described here generally is not needed if another primary-capable node is expected to rejoin the stack. If this procedure is used, it is possible that the new primary will duplicate the primary that is expected to rejoin later.
To assign a new primary-capable node, follow these steps.