Operation Manual – ClusterH3C S7500 Series Ethernet Switches Chapter 1 Cluster1-41.1.4 Introduction to ClusterI. Introduction to cluster configurationA cluster has one (and only one) management device. Note the following points whencreating a cluster:z You need to designate a management device first. The management device of acluster is the portal of the cluster. That is, any operations performed in externalnetworks and intended for the member devices of a cluster, such as accessing,configuring, managing, and monitoring, can only be implemented through themanagement device.z The management device of a cluster recognizes and controls all the memberdevices in the cluster, no matter where they are located in the network or how theyare connected.z The management device collects topology information about all the member andcandidate devices to provide useful information for users to establish a cluster.z The management device manages and monitors the devices in the cluster bycollecting and processing NDP/NTDP packets. NDP/NTDP packets containnetwork topology information.All the above-mentioned operations need the support of the cluster function.Note:You need to enable the cluster function and configure cluster parameters on amanagement device. However, you only need to enable the cluster function on themember devices and candidate devices.II. Introduction to function of clusterCluster provides the function of batch management for the switches in the network. Itprovides external management and maintenance applications, including SNMP,command line, program and data loading, log reporting and alarm reporting. Theseapplications can be divided into internal-to-external applications andexternal-to-internal applications. All the applications are processed according to thefollowing procedures:z The communication between the management device and member device in thecluster is implemented through packet interaction in the management VLAN.z The communication between the cluster and the external server is implementedby the Layer 3 interface of the cluster management VLAN.z When the member device in the cluster communicates with the external server,the member device transmits the data to the management device first, and then
