Switching

Hi Community,

I am very confused. Here is a switch that is full with 100GE ports, and I can use only the 40GE ports for the VC.

Can I use QSFP28 ports as Virtual Chassis ports on QFX5200-32C? Or can I only use the QSFP+ ports as VCP ports on QFX5200-32C?

Can somebody clarify this?

Thanks, and Best Regards,

Attila

QFX5200 family of products, 32C, 64C or 48y, do not support Virtual Chassis at all, and I believe there may not be any roadmap for such support either.  See:

https://apps.juniper.net/feature-explorer/feature-family-info.html?familyName=Virtual%20Chassis

HTH and Good Luck.

Hi,

Thank you for your answer!

I have chacked the link and I could not find it either.

But, based on this: https://www.juniper.net/documentation/en_US/release-independent/junos/topics/reference/requirements/virtual-chassis-qfx-ex-series-hardware-planning.html

It really seems that only that the 40GE ports can be used as VCP. Can somebody tell me why?

Thanks in advance!

Best Regards,

Attila

Hi rccpgm,

Virtual-chassis support for QFX5200-32C was introduced in 17.3R2 (https://www.juniper.net/documentation/en_US/junos/information-products/topic-collections/release-notes/17.3/junos-release-notes-17.3.pdf, page 230). It came as a surprise for me as well as I never expected this platform to have VC support.

@Attila: Regarding VC-ports; I suspect a chipset limitation for the VC-functionality as all documentation states 40G QSFP ports. On the other hand you will still have 80G capacity between the switches. If this isn't enough I suggest you look at MC-LAG instead.

I will suggest to convert the two ports needed for VC to 40G or look at MC-LAG if you require 100G throughput.

Jonas thanks for the findings and update.  I never expected this as well, but VC should be there, and this is a good addition.  Need to check as to why support is not there also on 64C and 48y.

Attila, I am also checking for why 40GE limitation is there.  As Jonas stated could very likely be HW limitation, or potentially test.

If I find anything out, I'll update this thread.

Hi Jonas,

Thank you for your answer!

It seems wehave to use the MC-LAG.

Best Regards,

Attila

A short note here... from 17.3R2-S4 you can also use 100G for VC ports. Listed in the bottom off this page:

https://www.juniper.net/documentation/en_US/junos/topics/concept/virtual-chassis-qfx-series-understanding.html

Hello Jonas,

Thank you for your update!

Your article was very useful.

Best Regards,

Attila Horváth