With the Suggested Candidates window, you can add candidate switches to the cluster.
The Suggested Candidates window shows switches that Cluster Management software discovers using Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP). By default, the outer boundary of the CDP search is three hops from the command switch, where each hop is to another cluster-capable switch. (You can change the hop count by selecting Cluster > User Settings.)
Fields in the Suggested Candidates table have these meanings:
| Field | Meaning |
| Name | The host name assigned to the candidate switch. If no host name is assigned to a Catalyst 2900 or 3500 XL candidate, the name "switch" is displayed. When you add an unnamed 2900 or 3500 XL candidate to the cluster, this name is changed to a two-part name that contains the command switch host name, follow by a hyphen and a number that designates the order in which the candidate joined the cluster. If no host name is assigned to a Catalyst 1900 or 2820 candidate, the MAC address is displayed. When you add an unnamed 1900 or 2820 candidate to the cluster, the MAC address is changed to a three-part name that contains the command switch host name, a number that designates the order in which the candidate joined the cluster (unhyphenated), and the MAC address of the candidate. |
| Device Type | The switch model of the candidate. |
| MAC Address | The MAC address of the candidate. |
| Upstream Switch | The switch through which the candidate is connected to the cluster. |
By default, all switches in the Suggested Candidates window are selected for adding to the cluster. You can select any number of switches in this list, provided the cluster does not exceed 15 member switches.
Note: All switches that you select must be configured with either no password or with the same password.
To select a single switch, click on its entry in the list.
To select multiple switches, hold down the Ctrl key and click on individual switches, or hold down the Shift key and select the first and last switches in a range.