How to manually switch virtual chassis mastership for EX series switches VC

Summary:

Manually switch virtual chassis master-ship for mixed EX4500 and EX4550

Problem or Goal: Cause: 

Command to Toggle mastership between routing engines

Solution: 

>edit

#set chassis redundancy graceful-switchover

#commit synchronize

#exit

>request chassis routing-engine master switch

References:

Graceful Routing Engine Switchover (GRES)

Problem Solved?

Yes

Troubleshooting Juniper EX Series Virtual Chassis Issues

Summary:
I have a mixture of juniper EX4500 with EX4550, today the would be backup routing engine isolated itself from the virtual chassis and was showing up as master.

Problem or Goal:


Backup routing-engine isolated itself from the VC and was showing to be master.

Cause:

Not yet sure what could have caused this.

Solution:

I powered off the would be backup routing-engine (EX4550) and powered it back on, it managed to join the VC again, but took up the master routing-engine role.

1. Resolution Guide - EX - Troubleshoot Virtual Chassis (VC)

Problem Solved?

Stacking EX4200-24F with EX4200-24T using virtual chassis and vc ports

Summary: 

Stacking EX4200-24F with EX4200-24T using virtual chassis and vc ports.

Disclaimer: This article is not a subsitute to the original juniper documentation, i recommend you read the original juniper manuals as they keep track of all the software changes.

References:

 Recommended Junos Software Versions

 Configuring VC using preprovisioned config file

 Configuring mastership of EX series VC

 Understand EX series VC components 

Problem or Goal:

To increase port count on your current switch

Cause:

Solution:

1. Gather the serial numbers for the two switches:

> show chassis hardware

2. Set the Virtual Chassis mode to mixed:

This is good if in future you wish to add mixed members to the EX4200 VC, say if you add an EX4500, run the command below on both switches.

> request virtual-chassis mode mixed

3. Reboot both switches for the command in (2) above to take effect:

> request system reboot

4. when you have finished rebooting both switches, leave the switch that is supposed to be master powered on and power off the switch that is supposed to be backup. It's time to do the "preprovisioned configuration" on the master switch.

5. Specify the preprovisioned configuration mode:

[edit virtual-chassis]

# set preprovisioned

6. Specify all the members that will be included in the Virtual Chassis configuration, listing each switch's serial number with the desired member ID and the desired role:

[edit virtual-chassis]

# set member 0 serial-number XX0213517333 role routing-engine

# set member 1 serial-number XX0213517332 role routing-engine

7. (Optional. Recommended for a two-member Virtual Chassis) Disable the split and merge feature:

[edit virtual-chassis]

# set no-split-detection

8. Check you configuration so far:

# commit check

9. Commit your configuration on the master

# commit

10. Connect the two switches using a VC cable connected to the vc-ports

11. Power on the second switch (the backup member)

12. When the second switch has fully booted, it will automatically be added to the virtual chassis as a back up; here are some helpful show commands to verify that your VC is successful.

# show virtual-chassis vc-port 

# show virtual-chassis

# show chassis hardware

Problem Solved? 

YES

Stacking juniper ex4500 with ex4550 switches using virtual chassis and vc-ports

Summary: 

I have just finished stacking juniper switches and for this particular work, i stacked a mixture of EX4550-32F and EX4500-40F. everything was smooth for me i should say and i got it right at first attempt. below i share my experience.

Disclaimer: This blog post is not a substitute for the original juniper documents and manuals, as a matter of fact, my only reference was juniper materials when i was setting this up:

Link1: configuring mixed virtual chassis
Link2: understanding EX Series VC components
Link3: VC cabling examples

Problem or Goal:

i had run out of port count and i need more port for new projects.

Cause:

Running out of port count

Solution:

For my case, the old switch was the EX4500-40F and was carrying live traffic and it's the switch i wanted to be the master. Here is the simple procedure i followed without having to restart my old switch. we are going to use the preprovisioned configuration mode:

1. Gather the serial numbers for the two switches:
> show chassis hardware

2. (On the EX4500-40F, that is going to be the master) Verify the PIC mode setting:
> show chassis pic-mode

3. If the PIC mode setting is not set to virtual-chassis, set the PIC mode to virtual-chassis:
> request chassis pic-mode virtual-chassis

4. If the PIC mode in step (3) above was changed, you will have to reboot your switch. for my case it was already set to "virtual-chassis" to i got away with having to reboot my core switch and interrupting service.

> request system reboot

> show chassis pic-mode     
fpc0:
------------------------------------------------------------------
    Pic Mode: PIC 3: virtual-chassis

5. At this point, the switch that is supposed to be the master (EX4500-40F) is powered up whereas the new switch (backup) is powered off (EX4550-32F). It's time to do the "preprovisioned configuration" on the master switch (EX4500-40F)

6. Specify the preprovisioned configuration mode:

[edit virtual-chassis]

# set preprovisioned

7. Specify all the members that will be included in the Virtual Chassis configuration, listing each switch's serial number with the desired member ID and the desired role:

[edit virtual-chassis]

# set member 0 serial-number BR0213517499 role routing-engine

# set member 1 serial-number BR0213517498 role routing-engine

8. (Optional. Recommended for a two-member Virtual Chassis) Disable the split and merge feature:

[edit virtual-chassis]

# set no-split-detection

9. Check you configuration so far:

# commit check

10. Commit your configuration on the master

# commit

11. Connect the VC cable to the VC-Ports, for my case i connected vcp-0 of EX4500-40F to vcp-0 of EX4550-32F, there are located at the back panel.

 

11. Power on the new switch (EX4550-32F)

12. EX4550-32F booted and was automatically added to the virtual chassis as a back up; here are some helpful show commands to verify that your VC is successful.

# show virtual-chassis vc-port 

# show virtual-chassis

# show chassis hardware

Problem Solved?

Absolutely, i now have 32 more ports for my new projects.

For any questions regarding this project, use the comment section. cheers