Syslog Question for N Series Switches

Hello,

I've set up logging to a syslog server on my N2000 series switches. One thing that I've noticed is that the originating "Host IP Address" field contains a dash and then a number within each message. For instance, if the IP address is 2.3.4.5 the "Host IP Address" field in the message will come as "2.3.4.5-1" (dash one is appended). I looked through the CLI reference guide and it seems that this is by design - the example given in the Syslog syntax section shows "0.0.0.0-1" as the example for "Host IP Address".

Can anyone tell me what the " -1 " means? Some messages come through as "X.X.X.X-2" or "X.X.X.X-3", up to around 6. It seems like the numbers could be loosely correlated with the number of units in each stack, although I have some 8-member stacks that generate log files only up to "-6".

The reason I want to know is because our syslog server files/organizes the messages by hostname, so if my switch is called "ThirdFloor" I now have folders for "ThirdFloor-1" and "ThirdFloor-2", all the way up to "ThirdFloor-6", each with logs from different dates.

At first I thought it might be the number of the stack member that the log pertains to, but we get logs from, say, "ThirdFloor-6" relating to interface "Gi4/0/21" (so the host has -6 appended, but the log relates to a port on the 4th stack member) so I don't think that's it. Now I'm thinking it might be the stack master at the time the message was sent, since most logs are coming from "-1" or "-2" and these are typically the master/backup units in our stacks. But in this case, I don't understand why messages are coming from all six or seven stack members at all... without any major changes or reboots, shouldn't the master and backup units stay relatively static?

So, I'm at a loss. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!