Supported Platforms
Understanding EX4600 Virtual Chassis
EX4600 switches can act as member switches in a non-mixed Virtual Chassis—a Virtual Chassis composed entirely of EX4600 switches—as well as participate as member switches in a mixed Virtual Chassis with EX4300 switches.
EX4600 Virtual Chassis brings the Virtual Chassis flexible, scaling switch solution to the Juniper Networks EX4600 Ethernet Switch. You can connect up to ten EX4600 switches together to form one EX4600 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 EX4600 switch or EX4600 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 EX4600 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 EX4600 switches into the a Virtual Chassis.
You configure an EX4600 Virtual Chassis by configuring optical interfaces connecting EX4600 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+ and 10-Gigabit SFP+ optical ports on an EX4600 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 EX4600 switches can be interconnected into the same EX4600 Virtual Chassis. EX4600 switches can also be interconnected into a mixed Virtual Chassis with EX4300 switches. EX4600 switches must be configured into the Routing Engine role in any mixed Virtual Chassis with EX4300 switches.
An EX4600 Virtual Chassis is configured, monitored, and maintained like other EX Series Virtual Chassis. See Understanding EX Series Virtual Chassis Components.
