Cable and Add Devices to the Management Center

Before configuring clustering, you need to prepare your devices. In particular, the cluster will not come up unless all nodes can communicate over the cluster control link. Therefore, before you form the cluster, the cluster control link must be ready to go.

Procedure

Step 1

Cable the cluster control link network, management network, and data networks.

Step 2

Configure the upstream and downstream equipment.

  1. For the cluster control link network, set the MTU to be at least 100 bytes higher than the data interface MTU.

    By default, the data interface MTU is 1500 bytes, so the cluster control link MTU on the cluster node will be set to 1600 bytes. If you use higher MTUs on your data interfaces, increase the cluster control link MTU on connecting switches accordingly.

  2. Configure cluster control link interfaces on upstream and downstream equipment, including for an optional EtherChannel.

    See Cluster Control Link Interfaces and Network for cluster control link requirements.

  3. Configure data interfaces on upstream and downstream equipment, including Spanned EtherChannels.

    See About Cluster Interfaces for information about how to cable Spanned EtherChannels.

Step 3

Add each node to the management center as a standalone device in the same domain and group.

You can create a cluster with a single device, and then add more nodes later. The initial settings (licensing, access control policy) that you set when you add a device will be inherited by all cluster nodes from the control node. You will choose the control node when forming the cluster.

Step 4

Enable the cluster control link on the device you want to be the control node.

When you add the other nodes, they will inherit the cluster control link configuration.

Note

Do not configure the name or IP addressing for the cluster control link. The MTU of the cluster control link interface is automatically set to 100 bytes more than the highest data interface MTU when you form the cluster, so you do not need to set it now. However, we do not recommend setting the cluster control link MTU between 2561 and 8362; due to block pool handling, this MTU size is not optimal for system operation. If the MTU is set in this range when you add the cluster, we recommend returning to the Interfaces page and manually increasing it above 8362.

  1. On the device you want to be the control node, choose Devices > Device Management, and click Edit (edit icon).

  2. Click Interfaces.

  3. Enable the interface. If you are going to use an EtherChannel for the cluster control link, enable all members. See Enable the Physical Interface and Configure Ethernet Settings.

    Enable the Cluster Control Link Interface
    Enable the Cluster Control Link Interface

  4. (Optional) Add an EtherChannel. See Configure an EtherChannel.

    We recommend using the On mode for cluster control link member interfaces to reduce unnecessary traffic on the cluster control link (Active mode is the default). The cluster control link does not need the overhead of LACP traffic because it is an isolated, stable network. Note: We recommend setting data EtherChannels to Active mode.

  5. Click Save and then Deploy to deploy the interface changes to the control node.