Clustering...what do I really gain?

[Djarum]

I have 5 2950ts in the same rack...All have their own IP...I have them clustered but so far the only thing that i seem to gain is I get a graphic view of all the switches in cms...
Is there anything else? Do changes I make globaly on the command switch propagate to the others?

TIA
Chet

 

[hinesjrh]

One feature that I like and the primary reason I use Clustering, is for password management. If you change the password on the Commander it changes on all the switches in the cluster. There are other features as well :-D, check out

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps607/products_tech_note09186a008011766b.shtml

 

[ADB100]

The clustering is pretty pointless in my opinion. It seems to make a nice selling/marketing point, but once the actual technical people who install & maintain these devices get their hands on them they quickly see that it isn't really worth it.

In a secure environment local passwords are not normally relevent as centralised RADIUS/TACACS+ will be used. The HTTP Server in IOS is a pretty weak point as well. In most installations we disable HTTP/HTTPS access anyway.

HTH

Andy