Juniper JUNOS OS 10.3 - SOFTWARE Manual page 1019

Global Management of Member Switches in a Virtual Chassis
High Availability Through Redundant Routing Engines
Adaptability as an Access Switch or Distribution Switch
Related
Documentation
Copyright © 2010, Juniper Networks, Inc.
The interconnected member switches in a Virtual Chassis configuration operate as a
single network entity. You run EZSetup only once to specify the identification parameters
for the master, and these parameters implicitly apply to all members of the Virtual Chassis
configuration. You can view the Virtual Chassis configuration as a single device in the
J-Web user interface and apply various device management functions to all members
of the Virtual Chassis configuration.
The serial console port and dedicated out-of-band management port that are on the
rear panel of the individual switches have global virtual counterparts when the switches
are interconnected in a Virtual Chassis configuration. A virtual console allows you to
connect to the master by connecting a terminal directly to the console port of any member
switch. A virtual management Ethernet (VME) interface allows you to remotely manage
the Virtual Chassis configuration by connecting to the out-of-band management port of
any member switch through a single IP address. See "Understanding Global Management
of a Virtual Chassis Configuration" on page 929.
A Virtual Chassis configuration has a master and a backup, each of which has a Routing
Engine. These redundant Routing Engines handle all routing protocol processes and
control the Virtual Chassis configuration. See "High Availability Features for EX Series
Switches Overview" on page 20 for further information on redundant Routing Engines
and additional high availability features.
A Virtual Chassis configuration supports a variety of user environments, because it can
be composed of different models of EX4200 switches, with either 24 or 48 access ports,
and with these having either full (24 or 48 ports) or partial (8 ports) Power over Ethernet
(PoE) port capabilities. You can select different switch models to support various
functions. For example, you might set up one Virtual Chassis access switch configuration
composed of the full PoE models to support users sitting in cubicles equipped with PCs
and VoIP phones. You could set up another Virtual Chassis configuration with partial PoE
models to support the company's internal servers and configure one more Virtual Chassis
configuration with partial PoE models to support the company's external servers.
Alternatively, the Virtual Chassis configuration can be used as a distribution switch. For
this type of deployment, you might select the EX4200-24F model to connect the
distribution switch to multiple access switches located in different buildings on the
campus.
Understanding Virtual Chassis Components on page 924
Understanding How the Master in a Virtual Chassis Configuration Is Elected on page 928
Understanding Virtual Chassis EX4200 Switch Version Compatibility on page 935
Understanding Virtual Chassis Configurations and Link Aggregation on page 932
Understanding Virtual Chassis Configuration on page 934
EX4200 Switch Models on page 29
Chapter 43: Virtual Chassis—Overview, Components, and Configurations
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