QFX5110 Deployment in a Virtual Chassis or Virtual Chassis Fabric

You can deploy QFX Series switches as members in three types of Virtual Chassis:

• QFX Virtual Chassis (QFX3500, QFX3600, QFX5100, and EX4300)

• QFX5110 Virtual Chassis (QFX5110 and QFX5100)

• QFX5200 Virtual Chassis (QFX5200-32C only)

QFX Virtual Chassis and QFX5110 Virtual Chassis allow you to interconnect a mixture of up to ten switches into one logical device and manage the device as a single chassis. QFX5200 Virtual Chassis is limited to three QFX5200-32C members.

A Virtual Chassis configuration has two Routing Engines—the primary switch and the backup switch. All other participating switches operate as line cards. You create a Virtual Chassis by cabling the switches in a ring topology and configuring SFP+, QSFP+, or QSFP28 interfaces into Virtual Chassis ports (VCPs). VCPs are responsible for passing all data and control traffic between member switches in the Virtual Chassis. All non-channelized QSFP28 or QSFP+ uplink interfaces on the switches can be configured into VCPs. All fixed SFP+ interfaces can also be configured into VCPs.

All members of the Virtual Chassis are required to run the same Junos OS Release. You can check the version and release by issuing the show chassis version CLI command.

This topic covers:

• Valid Configurations for a QFX Virtual Chassis
• Valid Configurations for a QFX5110 Virtual Chassis
• Valid Configurations for a QFX5200 Virtual Chassis
• VC Deployment Checklist

The Juniper Networks Virtual Chassis Fabric (VCF) spine-and-leaf architecture supports two types of hardware configurations based on the switch model used as the spine in the VCF.

• QFX5110 VCF

  • QFX5110-32Q (spine or leaf)

  • QFX5110-48S (leaf)

  • QFX5100-24Q (leaf)

  • QFX5100-48S (leaf)

  • QFX5100-48T (leaf)

    Note:

    Available on Junos OS Release 17.3R2 and later.

  • QFX5100-96S (leaf)

• QFX5100 VCF

  • QFX5100-24Q (spine or leaf)

  • QFX5100-48S (spine or leaf)

  • QFX5100-48T (leaf)

  • QFX5100-96S (leaf)

  • QFX3600 (leaf)

  • QFX3500 (leaf)

  • EX4300 (leaf)

Homogeneous configurations are Installations with all members within the same line of switches (for example, QFX5100-24Q, QFX5100-48S, QFX5100-48T, and QFX5100-96S in a QFX5100 VCF). QFX5100 VCF installations with a mixture of models are called mixed mode. For example, a mixed mode QFX5100 VCF might contain a EX4300 or QFX3600 as leaf devices. Mixed mode devices must be configured before joining the VCF and are not eligible for the auto-provisioned configuration (plug and play). Adding a device configured as mixed mode to a VCF can cause those devices to be marked inactive if the other devices are not also configured as mixed mode. In both mixed mode and homogeneous configurations, you must run the same Junos OS release on all devices. In a QFX5100 VCF, the optimum configuration comprises only QFX5100 models. When both the QFX5100-24Q and the QFX5100-48S are available in a VCF, use the QFX5100-24Q as the spine.

In a QFX5110 VCF, the optimum configuration comprises only QFX5110 models. When multiple models of QFX5110 are in a VCF, use the QFX5110-32Q as the spine. All QFX5110 VCF configurations are considered homogeneous.

A Virtual Chassis Fabric (VCF) architecture supports up to 20 interconnected devices that are managed as a logical single device. Supported platforms vary depending on the QFX Series switch chosen for the spine. See Understanding Virtual Chassis Fabric Components and Virtual Chassis Fabric Hardware Overview for supported configurations. Although the architecture has a powerful auto-provisioning option, which allows you to plug and play the devices, careful planning of the deployment can avoid unexpected results.

For example, if you perform any configuration level commands on one of the devices (including assigning IP addresses or host names) you no longer can use auto-provisioning.

Use the following checklist to plan your deployment: