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Understanding EX4300 Virtual Chassis

EX4300 switches can act as member switches in a non-mixed Virtual Chassis—a Virtual Chassis composed entirely of EX4300 switches—as well as participate as member switches in a QFX Series Virtual Chassis or as leaf nodes in a Virtual Chassis Fabric (VCF). This topic provides information regarding EX4300 member switches in a non-mixed EX4300 Virtual Chassis only. For information on EX4300 member switches in a QFX Series Virtual Chassis, see Understanding QFX Series Virtual Chassis. For information on EX4300 switches in a VCF, see Virtual Chassis Fabric Overview.

EX4300 Virtual Chassis brings the Virtual Chassis flexible, scaling switch solution to the Juniper Networks EX4300 Ethernet Switch. You can connect up to ten EX4300 switches together to form one EX4300 Virtual Chassis and manage the unit as a single chassis. The advantages of connecting multiple switches into a Virtual Chassis include better-managed bandwidth at a network layer, simplified configuration and maintenance because multiple switches can be managed as a single switch, increased fault tolerance and high availability(HA) because a Virtual Chassis can remain active and network traffic can be redirected to other member switches when a single member switch fails, and a simplified Layer 2 network topology that minimizes or eliminates the need for loop prevention protocols such as Spanning Tree Protocol (STP).

The Virtual Chassis also provides a flexible model for expanding your network. If you are using an EX4300 switch or EX4300 Virtual Chassis at the access layer, for instance, and need additional access ports to support more servers, computers, phones, or other devices, you can add an EX4300 switch as a Virtual Chassis member to increase the number of access ports on your network with minimal complications to the existing network topology and switch configuration. You can add this new switch to a Virtual Chassis if the switch is installed in the same building or at a different site because the long-distance optical ports can be used to interconnect EX4300 switches into the a Virtual Chassis.

You configure an EX4300 Virtual Chassis by configuring optical interfaces connecting EX4300 switches into Virtual Chassis ports (VCPs). VCPs connect switches together to form a Virtual Chassis, and are responsible for passing all data and control traffic between member switches in the Virtual Chassis. All 40-Gigabit QSFP+ optical ports on an EX4300 switch are configured as VCPs by default. All 10-Gigabit uplink module ports on an EX4300 switch can be configured into VCPs. You can increase the VCP bandwidth between any two member switches by connecting multiple VCP links between the switches. When multiple VCP links are interconnecting the same two member switches, a Link Aggregation Group (LAG) bundle is formed when the links are identical speeds. For instance, if you have four 40-Gigabit links configured as VCPs between member switches, a LAG with four member links at 160Gbps of bandwidth is formed. 10-Gigabit and 40-Gigabit links configured as VCPs cannot be members of the same LAG, however.

All models of EX4300 switches can be interconnected into the same EX4300 Virtual Chassis.

An EX4300 Virtual Chassis is configured, monitored, and maintained like other EX Series Virtual Chassis. See Understanding EX Series Virtual Chassis Components.