OK, a quick update as I try to remotely configure the stack of MS-390's. Just as a point of reference, I've remotely configured at least two dozen stacks using MS-250 switches over the last two years so I get the quirks.
- All of the 4 switches had unique static IP's on the MGMT VLAN before I started. Everything was stable and updated to version MS 11.31 I have my local contact hook up the stack cables. The stack was recognized as a "potential" stack and was provisioned.
- A few minutes after doing this, I lost all contact with the stack. I assume there was a reboot process happening. About 30 mins later, the stack appeared in my GUI. I noticed that all 4 switches had the same DHCP IP from another VLAN on my network. Again, I had unique statics assigned to each switch before this process started.
- At this point, I disabled all the individual uplinks to the switches from the core switch. These uplinks were only needed for the staging process. I only need one fiber (or 2 to redundancy) uplink from the stack itself once it's been provisioned. Switch to switch comms will happen over the stack cables. Once I did this, the entire stack disappeared from the GUI again. My local tech had already left the office at this point so there was nothing I could do.
- About 2.5 hours later, the stack magically reappeared in the GUI. This time they all had the same local IP as one of the original switches. But at least this was a static IP on the correct VLAN.
I did a reboot test of a switch that did not have a direct uplink to the core and confirmed that switch with the direct uplink also rebooted by watching the link of the port on the core go out. So the reboot on one in the stack will reset the entire stack.
Individual switches take about 10 mins to reboot. The 4-stack switch took about 20 mins to come back to the GUI.
I can just imagine how much stress it would be if this was a live network and a reset was needed on an individual switch. How about reboots during IOS updates?
Anyway, it's a bit disappointing to see how the MS-390's so far seem to be a step backwards in terms of configuration and installation.