Use Case and Reference Architecture

Traditional data center designs required chassis-based switches, which were complex to manage. As business demands change, data centers are changing. Today’s data centers need to support virtualization, span multiple geographies, incorporate hybrid cloud elements, and provide infrastructure for AI workloads. With each new class of workload, managing and supporting these data centers is getting ever more complex. The Edge-Routed Bridging (ERB) network architecture at the heart of the 3-Stage Fabric with Juniper Apstra simplifies data center design by distributing the traditional network chassis into a switching fabric that is far more resilient and flexible.

ERB is a distributed network architecture that can meet nearly any network requirement. As a result, ERB underlies all Juniper data center-validated designs. With Juniper data center switches running Junos OS and Juniper Apstra as an orchestration platform to manage these switches, customers can now provision, manage, and monitor data centers using Juniper Apstra software, as shown in Figure 1 and DCI capable Border . The ERB design is flexible, and with Juniper Apstra adding or removing leaf switches is easier.

Juniper Apstra is a multi-vendor Intent-Based Network System (IBNS). Apstra orchestrates data center deployments and manages small to large-scale data centers through Day-0 to Day-2 operations. It is an ideal tool for building data centers for AI clusters, providing invaluable Day-2 insights through monitoring and telemetry services. It supports provisioning 3-stage or 5-stage data center designs, including collapsed fabric for even smaller data center designs.