Switching

I want to connect two separate ex4300 VC's together (let's say I have 2 VC's with 6 members in each...so too many members to make a single huge VC).  Of the 4 x 40 gig ports in the back of the ex4300, can I configure 2 of them to be upink ports to other switches in the other VC and the other 2 as VCP ports to members in the same VC?  I understand I can do that with the uplink module ports, but not sure about the built in 40 gig ports.

 

I did some digging, and the datasheet says "or".  So any clarification would be appreciated!

 

 

http://www.juniper.net/us/en/local/pdf/datasheets/1000467-en.pdf

The EX4300 switches are single rack unit devices that deliver
a compact solution for crowded wiring closets and access
switch locations where space and power are at a premium. Each
EX4300 supports four standard 40GbE QSFP+ ports which can
support high-speed Virtual Chassis backplane connections or
serve as uplinks to upstream aggregation devices (note that the
40GbE ports cannot be split into 4x10GbE ports). In addition,
each EX4300 supports an optional front panel uplink module
offering four 1GbE or 10GbE ports for high-speed backbone or link
aggregation connections between wiring closets and upstream
aggregation switches, providing up to 40GbE of aggregate
bandwidth. Uplink modules can be installed without powering
down the switch, enabling users to add high-speed connectivity
at any time or migrate from one uplink type to the other, delivering
the ultimate in flexible, high-performance interconnectivity.

Any of the 40GbE ports can also be configured as regular Ethernet ports, so two 40GbE ports can be used for uplinks while the other two are used for Virtual Chassis connections. Alternately, all four 40GbE ports can be used to connect to aggregation switches, providing up to 160 Gbps of uplink bandwidth.

Yes, it is mix and match between VC and Uplink. Each port can be either VC or Uplink, it is not either/or for the group of ports as a whole. Check the following links. http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/en_US/junos13.2/topics/task/configuration/virtual-chassis-ex4300-configuring.html https://www.juniper.net/techpubs/en_US/junos/topics/reference/command-summary/request-virtual-chassis-vc-port-uplink.html

How do you actually configure the QSFP+ ports as network ports and not virtual chassis ports? I deleted ports 2 and 3 from the virtual chassis delete command and tried to configure them as 40 gig XLE ports but they're not showing up:
 

root@MBS-2-EDGE-4300> show virtual-chassis vc-port
fpc0:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interface Type Trunk Status Speed Neighbor
or ID (mbps) ID Interface
PIC / Port
1/0 Configured 5 Up 40000 1 vcp-255/1/1
1/1 Configured 5 Up 40000 1 vcp-255/1/0
fpc1:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interface Type Trunk Status Speed Neighbor
or ID (mbps) ID Interface
PIC / Port
1/0 Configured 5 Up 40000 0 vcp-255/1/1
1/1 Configured 5 Up 40000 0 vcp-255/1/0
1/3 Configured Absent
1/2 Configured Absent
{master:0}

root@MBS-2-EDGE-4300> show interfaces terse | match xle
{master:0}

root@MBS-2-EDGE-4300> ...rfaces | display set | match xle
set interfaces xle-0/1/2 description "TO-EX4300: XLE-0/1/2"
set interfaces xle-0/1/3 description "TO-EX4300: XLE-0/1/3"
set interfaces xle-1/1/2 description "TO-EX4300: XLE-1/1/2"
set interfaces xle-1/1/3 description "TO-EX4300: XLE-1/1/3"
{master:0}
root@MBS-2-EDGE-4300>

Try configuring them as et ports intead of xle ports.  Not sure why (since this says et ports are 100 gig ports) but that worked for me.

 

 

yep, according to page 6 of this ex4300 documentation, you need to use the et name for the 40 gig interfaces.

 

Thanks! Funny how Juniper uses XLE for 40 gig interfaces for some devices and now ET for the EX4300s.