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Port Panel of a QFX5100-96S Device

The port panel of the QFX5100-96S switch consists of 96 small form-factor pluggable plus (SFP+) and 8 quad small-form factor pluggable plus (QSFP+) ports that are normally configured as access ports. Physical ports(0 through 95) support 10 Gbps SFP+ transceivers and 1 Gbps transceivers. The eight 40-Gigabit ports (96 through 104) support QSFP+ transceivers and are normally configured as uplinks or Virtual Chassis ports (VCPs). Although the 104 physical ports of the QFX5100-96S would map to 128 logical ports using channelization, only 104 logical ports are supported.

Figure 1 shows the port panel of a QFX5100-96S switch.

Figure 1: QFX5100-96S Switch Port PanelQFX5100-96S Switch Port Panel
  1

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) terminal

  3

40 Gigabit Ethernet ports (8)

  2

10 Gigabit Ethernet ports (96)

 

This topic describes:

Switch Ports

The QFX5100-96S switch ports, (0 through 95) support:

  • SFP transceivers that can run at either 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps speed

  • SFP+ transceivers at 10 Gbps speed

  • SFP to SFP direct attach copper (DAC) cables

  • SFP+ to SFP+ DAC cables

  • SFP+ to SFP+ active optical cables (AOC)

Ports 96 through 104 support:

  • 40 Gbps QSFP+ transceivers

Additionally ports 96 and 100 support:

  • SFP+ transceivers

  • QSFP+ to QSFP+ direct attach copper (DAC) cables

  • QSFP+ to SFP+ DAC breakout cables (DACBO)

  • QSFP+ to QSFP+ active optical cables (AOC)

  • QSFP+ to SFP+ AOC breakout cables (AOCBO)

CAUTION:

When you use the latest OEM part number FCLF8521P2BTL (printed on the transceiver label), you can install 1GbE transceivers (such as QFX-SFP-1GE-T) in any port with no restrictions. The same applies for devices that support 10GbE copper transceivers. However, if you are using the older OEM part number SP7041-M1-JN (not shipped in last 3+ years) instead, do not install 1GbE copper transceivers (such as QFX-SFP-1GE-T) directly above or below another 1GbE copper transceiver. Use only the top row or bottom row to avoid damage to the device caused when the transceivers are installed above or below each other.

Channelizing Interfaces

The port panel of the QFX5100-96S switch supports up to a maximum of 104 logical 10 GbE ports that can be distributed over 96 small form-factor pluggable plus (SFP+) and 8 quad small-form factor pluggable plus (QSFP+) transceivers . Because of an 104 port restriction, only two of the eight QSFP+ can be channelized. Depending on how you set the system mode for channelization, the behavior of channelization for the QSFP+ changes. The following system modes are available for the QFX5100-96S switch:

  • Non-oversubscribed

    All 96 SFP+ ports on the switch (PIC 0) are supported. In this mode, the eight QSFP+ ports are not supported and cannot be channelized. There is no packet loss for packets of any size in this mode.

  • Default mode

    All 96 SFP+ ports on the switch (PIC 0) are supported. QSFP+ ports 96 and 100 can be channelized. If ports 96 and 100 are channelized, the interfaces on ports 97, 98, 99, 101, 102, and 103 are disabled.

Virtual Chassis and Virtual Chassis Fabric Support

The QFX5100-96S switch operates as a standalone switch, as a member in a QFX Virtual Chassis, as a member in a QFX5110 Virtual Chassis, as a spine or leaf device in a QFX5100 Virtual Chassis Fabric (VCF), or as a leaf device in a QFX5110 VCF. QFX Virtual Chassis support up to 10 members; QFX5100 VCF supports a total of 20 devices, of which 4 QFX5100 devices can be configured as spines. A QFX Virtual Chassis is cabled in a ring topology, where a VCF is cabled in a spine and leaf topology.

Virtual Chassis

In a QFX Virtual Chassis, you can connect up to 10 standalone QFX5100-96S switches into a QFX Series Virtual Chassis and manage the interconnected switches 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 devices can be managed as a single device, 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 flatter, simplified Layer 2 network topology that minimizes or eliminates the need for loop prevention protocols such as Spanning Tree Protocol (STP).

As of Junos OS release 17.3R1, you can also connect a QFX5100-96S as a member in a QFX5110 Virtual Chassis.

Virtual Chassis Fabric

The VCF provides a low-latency, high-performance fabric architecture that can be managed as a single device. VCF is an evolution of the Virtual Chassis feature, which allows you to interconnect multiple devices into a single logical device, inside of a fabric architecture. The VCF architecture is optimized to support small and medium-sized data centers that contain a mix of 1-Gpbs, 10-Gpbs, and 40-Gbps Ethernet interfaces.

A VCF is constructed using a spine-and-leaf architecture and topology. In the spine-and-leaf architecture, each spine device is interconnected to each leaf device. A VCF supports up to 20 devices, of which 4 QFX5100 devices can be configured into spine devices. In a mixed environment with QFX5100-24Q, QFX5100-98S and EX4300, use the QFX5100-24Q as the spine device and the QFX5100-96S and EX4300 as a leaf devices. You may use the QFX5100-96S as a spine in an all QFX5100-96S VCF or in a VCF that has a mixture of QFX5100-96S and EX4300.

As of Junos OS release 17.3R1, you can also connect a QFX5100-24Q as a leaf device in a QFX5110 VCF.