Cloning requires the source and destination switches to be the same so you will need to load the new switch in your network and preprogram all the ports, etc., manually or via the API If the switch is performing any layer 3 functions you would move them from the routing and dhcp settings page after the new one is online. Normally what I would do for something like this is: 1) Uplink the new switch to your existing network to a port providing DHCP (can be an isolated network), allow it come online do all it's firmware updates, etc. 2) Program the switchports 3) If you use static management addresses, do not program this yet and leave it on DHCP (to avoid an ip conflict) OR if your management subnet does not provide DHCP, program a new address to use, you can change later if necessary 4) Physically swap the switches 5) Move any routing and dhcp and update the management address if necessary in your setup.
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