Spec Sheet

3
Data SheetEX4300 Ethernet Switch
Virtual Chassis Deployments in the Data Center
When deployed in a Virtual Chassis configuration in the data
center, all EX4300 switches are monitored and managed as a
single device, enabling enterprises to separate physical topology
from logical groupings of endpoints and allowing more efficient
resource utilization. Highly resilient topologies can also be
created using the 40GbE DAC cables.
Figure 2: Using Virtual Chassis technology, up to 10 EX4300
switches can be interconnected to create a single logical device
spanning an entire building.
Mesh Virtual Chassis Configurations for the Data Center
In data center top-of-rack deployments, a full mesh five-switch
Virtual Chassis configuration can be created where every
switch member is just one hop away from every other member,
delivering the lowest possible latency. A mesh spanning distances
of up to 150 meters can be created using standard QSFP+ optics
on the 40GbE ports (DAC cables up to 3m in length available for
shorter distances), while 10GbE ports can be used as uplinks to
connect to upstream aggregation or core devices.
Figure 3: The EX4300 Ethernet switch with Virtual Chassis tech-
nology delivers a high-performance, scalable, and highly reliable
solution for the data center.
Figure 4: EX4300 switches in a full mesh Virtual Chassis configura-
tion for the data center.
Virtual Chassis Fabric Switching Architecture
Existing Virtual Chassis technology is further scaled and
enhanced to support a spine-and-leaf topology that is ideal for
high-performance and low-latency data center deployments.
In its first instance, this topology, called Virtual Chassis Fabric,
enables up to 20 switches to be deployed in a spine-and-leaf
configuration, with two to four QFX5100 switches in the spine
and up to 18 QFX5100, QFX3500, QFX3600 or EX4300 switches
as leaf nodes. This architecture provides any rack-to-any rack
deterministic throughput and low latency, while significantly
simplifying network operations through a single point of
management. A Virtual Chassis Fabric configuration supports
mixed 1GbE, 10GbE and 40GbE servers.
Figure 5: EX4300, QFX3500, QFX3600 and QFX5100 at the ac-
cess layer of Virtual Chassis Fabric configuration.
Closet 1 EX4300
Closet 2
EX4300
Access
Aggregation
10GbE/40GbE
uplinks
EX4300-32F
EX4300-32F
10/40GbE
40GbE Virtual
Chassis Port
Access/Layer
EX4300 Virtual Chassis
Collaped Core/
Aggregation Layer
Server
1GbE
10/40GbE
40GbE Virtual
Chassis Port
Full Mesh
Virtual Chassis
Collapsed Core/Aggregation
Access
10/40GbE
40GbE Virtual
Chassis Port
QFX5100
Node #1
(QFX5100)
Node #2
(QFX3500)
Node #3
(QFX3600)
Node #4
(EX4300)
RE EligibleHot-StandbyRE EligibleActive
SRX Series SRX SeriesEX9200 EX9200
Node #16
(QFX5100)
QFX5100 QFX5100 QFX5100