Virtual Chassis with 4 x 6860E-24
Topic
Hi,
I have upcoming installation as per the attached diagram. I have following queries for that.
1. How shall I setup a virtual chassis with 4 units of OS6860E-24?
a. by daisy chaining 2 dedicated qsfp vc ports with (4 x DAC cables)
b. by connecting any to any mesh (POD) using sfp+ ports (6 x FC cables)
2. Will the VC setup automatically by default?
3. If both 1a and 1b are workable model, what are the difference of the two designs?
Thanks
Answers
Hi Timothy,
On the 6860, you can use both the dedicated SFP28 VFL ports or the SFP+ ports. But the topology is always a ring - unlike the 6900 that can work in full and partial mesh topologies as well.
Using the dedicated VFL ports with DAC cables is the preferred option. However, the advantage of using the SFP+ ports is that this enables the creation of a Virtual Chassis in which member units are farther apart because you can use fibre links for interconnection.
The Virtual Chassis is automatically created on bootup if the VFL ports are connected - unless you disable or abort this process. Please refer to the "Switch Management Guide" for further details on automatic virtual chassis configuration.
Hope this helps.
Hi,
Thanks for the clarifications.
The switch management document explained mainly about virtual chassis by daisy chaining the VFL ports.
I'd also like to learn about setting up the PODs with any to any mesh connections. Could you refer me the appropriate reference document regarding setting up POD topology?
Regards/

Hello,
The OS6860 family of switches have dedicated VFL ports for VC purposes, each OS6860E-24 unit comes with two built-in VFL ports, described as "20G Virtual Chassis link ports". Please refer to chapter 13 of Switch Management User Guide for all the details on the configuration options. But this is mostly automatic, once you connect the dedicated DACs (available in different lengths up to 3 meters) the VC services are created automatically. For instance, the 3 meter part number is OS6860-CBL-300, described as a '20 Gigabit direct attached stacking copper cable 3m, QSFP+'.
If you want to build a remote VC, then the 10G SFP+ ports can be used to reach longer distances via fiber cables; for example, the following verbiage comes from chapter 13, "Long distance VFL connections can be configured on the 10G SFP+ ports to extend the capability of the virtual chassis to remote locations".
Please review ch. 13 in the Switch Management Guide (current version = os8_sw_87R3-revA) for configuration options via the automated options using the dedicated VFL ports via DACs, or remotely via manual configuration with connectivity through 10G SFP+ transceivers and fiber optic cabling.
You create VCs of up to 6 units per VC from the same switch family.
--Felipe Soriano