Spec Sheet

3
Data SheetEX4600 Ethernet Switch
Enterprise Deployments
The EX4600 oers an economical, power-ecient, and compact
solution for aggregating 10GbE expansions from access devices
in building and enterprise deployments. The switch’s dual-speed
interfaces also support environments transitioning from 1GbE to
10GbE. The EX4600 can be deployed in the distribution layer with
multichassis link aggregation (MC-LAG) (see Figure 1) to deliver
higher resiliency with a distributed control plane, NSB, NSR, and
unified ISSU. Multichassis LAG enables two EX4600 switches
to act as separate devices with their own control planes, while
eliminating STP by allowing link aggregation on the connected
devices. In addition, unified ISSU allows each of the EX4600
switches to be upgraded individually without service interruption.
If manageability is a concern, the EX4600 can be deployed in a
Virtual Chassis configuration to create a single management and
control plane, NSB, NSR, and nonstop software upgrade (NSSU)
(see Figure 2). If the total number of access switches in a building
is eight or fewer, the EX4600 can form a mixed Virtual Chassis
configuration with EX4300 switches in the wiring closet, enabling
all switches in the building to be managed as a single device (see
Figure 3).
The EX4600 easily meets enterprise core switch requirements,
delivering wire-speed performance on every port, full device
redundancy, support for L3 dynamic routing protocols such as
RIP and OSPF, L2 and L3 MPLS VPNs, and a comprehensive
security and QoS feature set.
Data Center Deployments
The EX4600 Ethernet Switch is designed for low-density data
center applications where high performance, high availability, and
energy efficiency are key requirements (see Figure 4). Operating
at wire speed, EX4600 switches deliver up to 1.07 Bpps
throughput and a data rate of 1.44 Tbps (full duplex) for both L2
and L3 protocols. EX4600 switches can be interconnected in a
Virtual Chassis configuration that also includes EX4300 switches,
creating a single logical device that offers a variety of port and
density options for mixed server environments.
Figure 2: EX4600 as an enterprise distribution switch in a Virtual Chassis configuration
EX4300 Virtual Chassis
Closet A1 Closet B1
Closet A2 Closet B2
EX4600
Virtual Chassis
Core
Access
Building 1 Building 2
Aggregation
EX9200EX9200
EX4300 Virtual Chassis
Closet A1 Closet B1
Closet A2 Closet B2
EX4600
Virtual Chassis
EX4300
EX4300
Closet 1 Closet 2
Core
Distribution
Access
EX4600
EX9200
EX4600
EX9200
L3
L2
Figure 3: Mixed Virtual Chassis configuration with EX4600
and EX4300 switches.