Switch Stack Monitoring
Monitor your switch stacks and the switches connected to them with switch stack monitoring. Break down monitoring to the level of every switch and check its health, performance, and status, and visualize the status of every switch and its connection on the data ring.
Site24x7 Network Monitoring provides switch stack monitoring exclusively for Cisco switches, and other vendors will be supported in the future. If you have a specific use case, try adding custom device templates.
In this doc, we'll cover:
- Why monitor switch stacks?
- Adding a switch stack for monitoring
- Basic terminologies
- Stack data ring
- Switch stack details
- Hardware sensor details
- Thresholds
- Alert mechanisms
- Switch stack report
- Troubleshooting tips
Why monitor switch stacks?
In general, a switch stack is considered a single switch and its performance metrics are monitored as a whole. However, it's crucial to drill down to the switch level so the actual performance and health of the stack is known. With stacks containing anywhere from one to eight switches, a problem with any one switch may cause data loss, resulting in a communication breakdown.
Consider an enterprise with thousands of switches: It's practically impossible to find a problematic switch without monitoring the stack in detail. Switch stack monitoring simplifies the monitoring process by directly pointing out a problematic switch or link.
Adding a switch stack for monitoring
You can add a switch stack for monitoring by following the steps to add a network device.
You can view the Stack tab by clicking on Network > Switch name. You can view the configurations and connections if the monitored switch is a stackable switch.
Basic terminologies
Switch stack: Some network switches can be connected to other switches and operate together as a single unit. These configurations are called stacks, and they increase the capacity of a network. A stack can contain a maximum of eight switches.
Master: The switch that acts as the commander and decides the stack configuration and communication.
Backup: The switch that is configured to become the new master, once the current master goes offline or shows an error. This will be decided based on hardware and software priorities.
Members: The rest of the switches in the stack. They are also termed a "slave."
Stack data ring: Troubleshoot issues at a glance
View a switch stack with all the switches and interconnections on a stack data ring.
- Green depicts Up and red denotes Down.
- The link between two switches turns red when either or both switches become Down.
- Hover over a switch to view its configuration details and status.
- Hover over a link to view the status of each connection.
Inference: With the link between Switch 3 and Switch 4 turning red, you can infer from the diagram that there is a problem with the connection.
Switch stack details
Obtain detailed insights about every switch on your stack. View details like switch name, role, state, MAC address, software priority, hardware priority, model, serial number, and status.
State: The state can be anywhere from 1-6: 1 for normal, 2 for warning, 3 for critical, 4 for shutdown, 5 for not present, and 6 for not functioning.
Priority: The priority value can be from 1 to 15. A switch with a higher priority value is likely to become the next master.
Hardware sensor details: Stay on top of your stack health
Track the health of the switches in your stack by monitoring their hardware sensors for temperature, fan, and power supply. You can determine the working status of the switch using the sensor values. The temperature sensor shows the actual temperature, whereas the fan and power supply sensors show the state values from 1-6. The status of the switch is decided upon by the state.
| State | Status |
| 1 | Up |
| 2 and 3 | Trouble |
| 4 to 6 | Down |
Thresholds
You can set the threshold limits for different sensor values and switches by clicking on the corresponding Threshold Configuration buttons.
Alert mechanisms
You can also choose when you should be alerted—when the switch's role changes, when the switch is down, or both. You can receive alerts through email, SMS, phone call, or push notifications.
Switch stack report
Obtain a comprehensive report on your switch stack covering every switch, its hardware details, roles, and more. You can access this report by navigating to Reports > Network Device > Switch Stack Report.
Troubleshooting
To troubleshoot data collection issues, query the OIDs corresponding to your issue.