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Configuring an EX4300 Virtual Chassis (CLI Procedure)

This topic provides information about configuring a non-mixed EX4300 Virtual Chassis only. For information on configuring an QFX Virtual Chassis that includes EX4300 member switches, see Configuring a QFX Series Virtual Chassis (CLI Procedure). For information on configuring EX4300 switches as leaf nodes in a VCF, see Preprovisioning a Virtual Chassis Fabric or Autoprovisioning a Virtual Chassis Fabric.

In an EX4300 Virtual Chassis, you interconnect the EX4300 switches by using uplink ports configured as Virtual Chassis ports (VCPs). The QSFP+ uplink ports, which support 40Gbps speeds and can connect switches that are up to 492 feet (150 m) apart, are configured as VCPs by default. The SFP+ uplink ports, which support 10Gbps speeds and can connect switches that are up to 6.2 miles (10 km) apart, can be configured into VCPs.

The simplest way to interconnect EX4300 switches into a Virtual Chassis is to install the switches within 492 feet of one another and interconnect them into a Virtual Chassis by using the QSFP+ ports.

If the member switches must be installed in locations that are more than 492 feet apart—such as at a different site or at a distant location within the same site—or if you are using the QSFP+ ports for another purpose, you must configure the SFP+ uplink module ports into VCPs. If you need additional VCP bandwidth between two member switches, you can configure additional ports as VCPs between the member switches. The ports that have identical speeds become links in a link aggregation group (LAG) to provide resiliency to the Virtual Chassis; for instance, if you had two QSFP+ ports and two SFP+ ports configured as VCPs connecting to the same switch, you would have two LAGs—one LAG with two 40Gbps QSFP+ port member links and another with two 10Gbps SFP+ port member links—between the member switches.

Note: A Virtual Chassis configuration has two Routing Engines—the master switch and the backup switch. Therefore, we recommend that you always use commit synchronize rather than simply commit to save configuration changes made for a Virtual Chassis. This ensures that the configuration changes are saved on both Routing Engines.

An EX4300 Virtual Chassis can be configured with either:

  • A nonprovisioned configuration—The master sequentially assigns a member ID to other member switches. The role is determined by the mastership priority value and other factors in the master election algorithm.
  • A preprovisioned configuration—You can deterministically control the member ID and role assigned to a member switch by tying the member switch to its serial number.

Note: You must configure a VLAN on all interfaces in an EX4300 Virtual Chassis, with the exception of the interfaces on member switch 0, before the interfaces can send or receive traffic. The interfaces on member switch 0 are initially placed into the default VLAN; the interfaces on all other member switches are not placed into any VLAN. See Configuring VLANs for EX Series Switches (CLI Procedure).

Note: On an EX4300 Virtual Chassis, STP is disabled on all interfaces except the interfaces on member switch 0 until a type of STP is enabled. See Configuring STP (CLI Procedure) to enable STP on the interfaces in your EX4300 Virtual Chassis.

This topic includes:

Configuring an EX4300 Virtual Chassis with a Nonprovisioned Configuration File

You can use a nonprovisioned configuration to configure an EX4300 Virtual Chassis.

To configure the Virtual Chassis using a nonprovisioned configuration:

Note: We recommend that you physically cable the optical ports as the final step of this procedure.

You can, however, configure an EX4300 Virtual Chassis while the cables are physically connected.

  1. Power on only the switch that you will use as the master switch.
  2. Run the EZSetup program on the master switch, specifying the identification parameters. See Connecting and Configuring an EX Series Switch (CLI Procedure) for details.

    Note: The properties that you specify for the master switch apply to the entire Virtual Chassis configuration.

  3. (Optional) Configure the master switch with the virtual management Ethernet (VME) interface for out-of-band management of the Virtual Chassis:
    [edit]
    user@switch# set interfaces vme unit 0 family inet address /ip-address/mask/
  4. (Optional) Configure mastership priority for the other member switches.
    [edit virtual-chassis]
    user@switch# set member 0 mastership-priority 255
    user@switch# set member 1 mastership-priority 255
    user@switch# set member 2 mastership-priority 10
    user@switch# set member 3 mastership-priority 9
    user@switch# set member 4 mastership-priority 8
    user@switch# set member 5 mastership-priority 7
    user@switch# set member 6 mastership-priority 6
    user@switch# set member 7 mastership-priority 5
    user@switch# set member 8 mastership-priority 4
    user@switch# set member 9 mastership-priority 3

    The mastership priority value determines the roles in a non-provisioned Virtual Chassis configuration. The switches with the highest mastership priority values assume the master and backup roles. All other switches assume the linecard role.

    If you do not configure the mastership priority for any switch in your Virtual Chassis, including when you do not configure the Virtual Chassis, all switches assume the default mastership priority of 128. The master election algorithm selects the roles for the member switches. In most cases, the switches that have been powered on the longest assume the master and backup roles when all Virtual Chassis member switches are configured with the same mastership priority. See Understanding How the Master in a Virtual Chassis Is Elected for additional information on the master election algorithm.

    A switch with a mastership priority of 0 never assumes the master or backup role.

    Note: We recommend that you specify the same mastership priority value for the intended master and backup members.

  5. (Optional. Recommended for a two-member Virtual Chassis) On the master switch, disable the split and merge feature:
    [edit virtual-chassis]
    user@switch# set no-split-detection
  6. Power on the other member switches.
  7. On each individual member switch, configure the SFP+ optical ports that will be used to interconnect the EX4300 member switches into VCPs.

    Note: Because QSFP+ ports are configured into VCPs by default, you do not usually have to perform this step when you are using a QSFP+ port as a VCP.

    You only need to configure a QSFP+ port as a VCP if you previously configured the QSFP+ port into a network port. If you previously configured the QSFP+ port into a network port, perform this step to configure the QSFP+ port into a VCP.

    user@switch-0> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 0
    user@switch-0> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 1
    user@switch-1> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 0
    user@switch-1> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 1
    user@switch-2> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 0
    user@switch-2> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 1
    user@switch-3> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 0
    user@switch-3> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 1

Note: If you want to change the member ID that the master has assigned to a member switch, use the request virtual-chassis renumber command.

Configuring an EX4300 Virtual Chassis with a Preprovisioned Configuration File

Preprovisioning a Virtual Chassis configuration allows you to assign the member ID and role for each switch in the Virtual Chassis.

To configure a Virtual Chassis using a preprovisioned configuration:

Note: We recommend that you physically cable the optical ports as the final step of this procedure.

You can, however, configure an EX4300 Virtual Chassis while the cables are physically connected.

  1. Make a list of the serial numbers of all the switches to be connected in a Virtual Chassis configuration.
  2. Note the intended role (routing-engine or line-card) of each switch. If you configure the member with a routing-engine role, it is eligible to function in the master or backup role. If you configure the member with a line-card role, it is not eligible to function in the master or backup role.
  3. Power on only the switch that you plan to use as the master switch.
  4. Run the EZSetup program on the master switch, specifying the identification parameters. See Connecting and Configuring an EX Series Switch (CLI Procedure) for details.

    Note: The properties that you specify for the master switch apply to the entire Virtual Chassis configuration.

  5. (Optional) Configure the master switch with the virtual management Ethernet (VME) interface for out-of-band management of the Virtual Chassis:
    [edit]
    user@switch# set interfaces vme unit 0 family inet address /ip-address/mask/
  6. Specify the preprovisioned configuration mode:
    [edit virtual-chassis]
    user@switch# set preprovisioned
  7. Specify all the members that you want included in the Virtual Chassis, listing each switch’s serial number with the desired member ID and role.

    Note: You can retrieve the switch’s serial number using the show chassis hardware command output or by viewing the serial number ID label on the switch. See Locating the Serial Number on an EX4300 Switch or Component.

    [edit virtual-chassis]
    user@switch# set member 0 serial-number abc123 role routing-engine
    user@switch# set member 1 serial-number def456 role routing-engine
    user@switch# set member 2 serial-number ghi789 role line-card
    user@switch# set member 3 serial-number jkl012 role line-card
    user@switch# set member 4 serial-number mno013 role line-card
    user@switch# set member 5 serial-number pqr014 role line-card
    user@switch# set member 6 serial-number stu015 role line-card
    user@switch# set member 7 serial-number vwx016 role line-card
    user@switch# set member 8 serial-number yzz017 role line-card
    user@switch# set member 9 serial-number aaa018 role line-card

  8. (Optional. Recommended for a two-member Virtual Chassis) Disable the split and merge feature:
    [edit virtual-chassis]
    user@switch# set no-split-detection

  9. Power on the other member switches. The member IDs and roles have been determined by the configuration, so you can power on the member switches in any order.
  10. On each individual member switch, configure the SFP+ optical ports that will be used to interconnect the EX4300 member switches into VCPs.

    Note: You can also use the request virtual-chassis vc-port command to configure a QSFP+ port into a VCP.

    Because QSFP+ ports are configured into VCPs by default, you do not usually have to perform this step when you are using a QSFP+ port as a VCP.

    You only need to configure a QSFP+ port as a VCP if you previously configured the QSFP+ port into a network port. If you previously configured the QSFP+ port into a network port, perform this step to configure the QSFP+ port into a VCP.

    user@switch-0> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 0
    user@switch-0> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 1
    user@switch-1> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 0
    user@switch-1> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 1
    user@switch-2> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 0
    user@switch-2> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 1
    user@switch-3> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 0
    user@switch-3> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 1

Note: You cannot modify the mastership priority when you are using a preprovisioned configuration. The mastership priority values are generated automatically and controlled by the role that is assigned to the member switch in the configuration file. The two Routing Engines are assigned the same mastership priority value. However, the member that was powered on first has higher prioritization according to the master election algorithm. See Understanding How the Master in a Virtual Chassis Is Elected.

 

Related Documentation

 

Published: 2014-05-28

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