I'm looking to implement a new network design with Juniper EX Series switches. Part of this involves implementing vPC between my core and ToR switches (and also between ToR and host).
The goal is to be able to split 4x1GE links into 2x2GE port groups, each one split between my two core switches for redundancy, and still obtain near 4 Gbps bandwidth to each rack.
I'm fairly new to the concept of vPC but I don't seem to be able to find a Juniper equivalent for this technology – other than stacking the ToR switches with Virtual Chassis technology.
I'll probably end up using Virtual Chassis if I can't do it any other way, but I'd like to try and keep the ToR switches un-stacked, if I can.
The only other option I know of is to use MSTP to balance traffic per VLAN – which is probably OK given that we use 1xVLAN per customer and each host can do 2 Gbps max, but a port channel seems much simpler to configure and maintain.
Am I missing something?
Best Answer
Geekman,
If talking in Cisco terms, the main difference between vPC and basic stacking (StackWise, FlexStack) is excluding of splitbrain situation, when both members become a master and continue to forwarding.
Juniper EX series currently do not support any technology like vPC, so MLAG can be completed only with Virtual Chassis which can be splitbrained.
Although Juniper have an analog of vPC, greatly works on MX series routers. They calling it directly "MC-LAG", which additionally uses ICCP to communicating between MC-LAG nodes. Those technologies well discribed in the book "Juniper MX Series" by Douglas Richard Hanks, Jr. and Harry Reynolds.