TL-SL3428_V3_User_Guide - TP-Link

Chapter 13 ClusterWith the development of network technology, the network scale is getting larger and more networkdevices are required, which may result in a more complicated network management system. As alarge number of devices need to be assigned different network addresses and every managementdevice needs to be respectively configured to meet the application requirements, manpower areneeded.The Cluster Management function can solve the above problem. It is mainly used to centralmanage the scattered devices in the network. A network administrator can manage and maintainthe switches in the cluster via a management switch. The management switch is the commanderof the cluster and the others are member switches.The typical topology is as follows.‣ Cluster RoleFigure 13-1 Cluster topologyAccording to their functions and status in a cluster, switches in the cluster play different roles. Youcan specify the role a switch plays. There are three roles.Commander Switch: Indicates the device that can configure and manage all the devices in acluster. It discovers and determins the candidate switches by collecting NDP (Neighbor DiscoveryProtocol) and NTDP (Neighbor Topology Discovery Protocol).Member Switch: Indicates the device that is managed in a cluster.Candidate Switch: Indicates the device that does not belong to any cluster though it can beadded to a cluster.Individual Switch: Indicates the device with cluster feature disabledThe roles can be changed from one to anther following the specified rules.• The current switch you create cluster is specified as the commander switch.182