Setting an Uplink Port on an EX3300 or EX4200 Switch as a Virtual Chassis Port (CLI Procedure)

The procedure described in this topic can be used to connect two EX3300 or EX4200 switches together within the same Virtual Chassis. It can also be used to connect a Ten-Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ connection on an EX4200 switch to an EX4500 switch in a mixed EX4200 and EX4500 Virtual Chassis.

This procedure is usually not needed to configure an EX3300 Virtual Chassis. Uplink ports 2 and 3 on an EX3300 switch are configured as VCPs by default and, therefore, do not require user configuration to be set as VCPs. We recommend that you should use this procedure only to configure an uplink port on an EX3300 switch as a VCP if you configured ports 2 and 3 as network uplink ports and the ports need to be reconfigured as VCPs, or in cases when ports 2 and 3 on the uplink module cannot be used as VCPs for an unexpected reason. You can use this procedure to configure any uplink port on an EX3300 switch as a VCP.

You can interconnect EX4200 switches that are beyond the reach of the Virtual Chassis cables as members of a Virtual Chassis configuration by using the SFP network ports—including the SFP uplink module, SFP+ uplink module, or XFP uplink module—and connecting the uplink ports. You can also use the SFP network ports for this purpose. To use the uplink ports or SFP network ports for interconnecting member switches, you must explicitly set the uplink ports as VCPs.

Note: You cannot set a 1000BASE-T copper SFP transceiver (EX-SFP-1GE-T) connection as a VCP.

Note: When an uplink port is set as a VCP interface, it cannot be used for any other purpose. You can set one port as a VCP interface and configure the other port in trunk mode as an uplink to a distribution switch.

Before you set an uplink port as a VCP:

1. (EX4200 switch only) Install the uplink module in the member switches that you want to interconnect.
2. Power on and connect to the switch that you plan to designate as the master of the Virtual Chassis configuration.

   Note: Do not power on the other switches at this point.

3. Run EZSetup on the switch that you are configuring to be the master. Follow the prompts to specify the hostname and other identification, time zone, and network properties. See Connecting and Configuring an EX Series Switch (CLI Procedure) for details. The properties that you specify for the master apply to the entire Virtual Chassis configuration, including all the member switches that you later interconnect with the master.
4. If you want to configure and manage the Virtual Chassis configuration remotely, specify the VME global management interface. You can configure the VME global management interface when you are setting up the master or you can do it after completing the other configuration steps for the Virtual Chassis. See Configuring the Virtual Management Ethernet Interface for Global Management of an EX3300, EX4200, or EX4500 Virtual Chassis (CLI Procedure).
5. Configure mastership of the Virtual Chassis by using either the nonprovisioned or preprovisioned configuration. See Configuring Mastership of an EX3300, EX4200, or EX4500 Virtual Chassis (CLI Procedure) for details.

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

To interconnect a Virtual Chassis configuration across long distances, such as between wiring closets, you need to:

• Prepare the existing Virtual Chassis configuration for interconnecting with a potential member switch that is beyond the reach of a dedicated Virtual Chassis cable (EX4200 Virtual Chassis only) by setting at least one uplink VCP on an existing member of the Virtual Chassis configuration.
• Prepare the potential member switch for interconnecting with the existing Virtual Chassis configuration by setting at least one uplink VCP on the standalone switch.

Note: We recommend that you set two uplink VCPs within each wiring closet for redundancy.

This topic describes:

1. Setting an Uplink VCP Between Two EX3300 or EX4200 Member Switches
2. Setting an Uplink VCP on a Standalone Switch

Setting an Uplink VCP Between Two EX3300 or EX4200 Member Switches

You can set an uplink port of an EX3300 or EX4200 Virtual Chassis member as a VCP.

Note: If you use the SFP+ uplink module, you must configure all member switches to support either 1-gigabit SFP transceivers or 10-gigabit SFP+ transceivers on EX4200 switches. See Setting the Mode on an SFP+ Uplink Module (CLI Procedure).

1. Set one uplink port of member 0 as a VCP interface. You do not need to specify the member member-id option, because the command applies by default on the member where it is executed.
   
user@switch> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 0
2. Set one uplink port of member 1 as a VCP interface.
   
user@switch>request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 0 member 1

   This step includes the member member-id option, because it is executed on a different member switch than the local member switch.

Setting an Uplink VCP on a Standalone Switch

You can set an uplink VCP on a standalone switch. You must set an uplink port on the standalone switch as a VCP prior to physically interconnecting the switch with the existing Virtual Chassis configuration. Otherwise, the master cannot detect that the switch is a member of the Virtual Chassis configuration.

1. Power on the standalone switch.
2. Set one uplink port as a VCP interface. You do not need to specify the member member-id option, because the command applies by default on the member where it is executed.
   
user@switch> request virtual-chassis vc-port set pic-slot 1 port 0

   Note: If you do specify the member member-id option, use member ID 0. Because the switch is not yet interconnected with the other members of the Virtual Chassis configuration, its current member ID is 0. Its member ID will change when it is interconnected with the Virtual Chassis configuration. It does not impact the functioning of the uplink VCP that its VCP interface is set with 0 as the member ID. The VCP interface has significance only on the local switch.

3. After you have set the uplink VCP on the standalone switch, physically interconnect its uplink port with the VCP uplink ports of the members in the existing Virtual Chassis configuration.
4. The new member switch reboots and joins the now expanded Virtual Chassis configuration with a different member ID.

   Note: The setting for the new member switch's uplink VCP remains intact and is not affected by the change of member ID.

5. If you have additional members in the second wiring closet, set a redundant VCP uplink on another member switch by issuing the request virtual-chassis vc-port command.