Cisco C3850 Switch – Active/Standby Question

ciscocisco-catalystethernetstackingswitch

We have Cisco catalyst C3850-48T L3 switch in stack. and it is showing Active/Standby.

Question: what does standby mean in stack? Does it means if i plug my laptop on standby switch port it won't work? Can anyone explain what is the advantage of having switch in stack? 

#show switch
Switch/Stack Mac Address : 6c99.8962.3990 - Local Mac Address
Mac persistency wait time: Indefinite
                                             H/W   Current
Switch#   Role    Mac Address     Priority Version  State
------------------------------------------------------------
*1       Active   6c99.8962.3990     15     M0      Ready
 2       Standby  1c1d.86a9.3500     1      M0      Ready

Best Answer

The Active switch is the one which is the current master of the stack. Priority 15 is the highest priority, and the highest priority will be the master. If the master fails, the next highest priority will be the master.

A stack of switches acts like a single switch, and one switch is the master for the stack, but all the switches have the configuration, so if one switch fails, the stack lives on.

All the switches are actually working. The switches appear as if they were boards in a single chassis. The ports are referred to as <switch>/<slot>/<port>, like GigabitEthernet1/0/1.

The advantage of a stack is that you can lose a switch in the stack, and the stack still works. It's just like losing a board in a chassis - you lose those ports, but the chassis still works.

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