Understanding the QFabric System Software Architecture
The software architecture for the QFabric system environment has been designed to provide a high-speed, low-latency, nonblocking fabric for data center traffic. This topic explores how the software architecture for a QFabric system supports these goals.
Key components of the QFabric system software architecture include:
A single administrative view of all QFabric system components provides unified management, configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting of the QFabric system. This view is provided by the QFX Series Director software running on the Director group. A primary administrator can access the unified view through the default partition.
A fabric control protocol enables rapid transport of data traffic between QFabric system components. This unique feature of the software architecture distributes route information for each device within the QFabric system, and removes the need to run spanning-tree protocols inside the QFabric system network.
A fabric management protocol provides rapid transport of control traffic between QFabric system components. This protocol helps identify and initialize QFabric system resources, supports device redundancy, and supports management communication throughout the QFabric system.
A control plane network that is separate from the data plane network provides high availability for the QFabric system.
The software also provides access to relevant features in the Junos operating system (Junos OS) that support QFabric system functionality. Support is available for most switching features available on EX Series Ethernet switches and many routing features available on M Series, MX Series, and T Series routing platforms.