What is Junos Fusion?

Ask any CIO today about the main problems in data centers, and you will probably get some variations from the following answers:
- We would like to be able to scale our data centers without complicating the existing infrastructure.
- We need to reduce total costs, operating costs - another item of expenditure. Therefore, everything that simplifies the operations of a large data center and reduces costs is welcome.
“We expect a combination of specialized and private cloud infrastructure in the foreseeable future.” Thus, we need a solution that allows us to both build environments using the same building blocks and give us the flexibility to move from one type of architecture to another.
- Any proposed architecture should support existing applications that require ubiquitous L2 communications in the data center as well as cloud applications.
- You need to be able to download any part of the data center. Workload mobility should not require additional network settings and should be fully automated.
“The solution should offer scalability simplicity where several modules can be easily connected and workload distribution between these modules should also be available.”

Juniper recently introduced an architecture for a data center that addresses each of these issues and does it globally. This solution, called Junos Fusion, not only simplifies operations on a scale, but also makes provisioning large data centers a simple operation. Under cat details.

General idea The
new development combines the access and aggregation levels of a data center, presenting a simple centralized interface for managing a large data center from one or two devices in a cluster. This simplifies the allocation of resources, configuration and operation of the data center.

Junos Fusion utilizes a range of standards-based technologies to provide scalability. For example, the IEEE 802.1BR protocol allows a Top-Of-Rack switch in a data center (in the terminology referred to as a “companion device”) to act as remote line cards in one or a pair of aggregation switches (“aggregation devices”). Junos Fusion lets you use up to 64 centrally managed related devices. This greatly simplifies the operation of data centers and eliminates the need to locally manage individual switches at the access level. In addition, Junos Fusion is designed as a loosely coupled system in which various components are minimally dependent on each other and communicate using protocols that are similar to routing networking protocols.

Using intelligent Top-Of-Rack switches as separate line cards makes it possible to implement additional services, such as local L2 and L3 traffic switching, which must be switched in the rack. Associated devices run on the Windriver Linux distribution, known as the Linux Forwarding Operating System (LFOS), which is separate from the Junos operating system running on the aggregation device. Junos offers a rich set of features and capabilities for all traffic between racks and outside the data center.

It is important to understand that IEEE 802.1BR is a simple protocol that defines how to manage remote line cards from a central device. It does not provide all the capabilities critical to the functioning of the data center, such as updating software on related devices, monitoring FRUs (power and cooling units), and monitoring events. All this functionality can be implemented using the JSON-RPC API between aggregation and related devices. In the new architecture, all these features are already available to customers thanks to the Junos Space Network Director GUI.



Juniper MX Series routers or QFX10000 switches can act as aggregation devices in Junos Fusion, while EX4300 or QFX5100 switches can be used as auxiliary devices, providing users flexible access options using interfaces from 1 GbE to 40 GbE,
which makes it possible to connect to Junos Fusion any server, storage or service.

Key Features
Junos Fusion architecture features enhanced resiliency. Aggregation devices operate in a cluster configuration with an active level of control, providing high data center resiliency. They can operate on the basis of different versions of Junos, creating another level of independence and separation of the level of management.

As described above, up to 64 auxiliary devices can be managed from one central device or a cluster of two devices — SNMP, log collection, FRU monitoring, and configuration are performed using it. In addition, the settings can be duplicated between aggregation devices, so it has the most relevant configuration in the event of a device failure. Configuration is done using the Junos CLI or through the Junos Space Network Director.

In Junos Fusion, aggregation devices are running Junos, and related devices are running Linux Forwarding Operating System (LFOS) based on Windriver Linux. The system allows the software on any of the related devices to be completely independent of the others. To update software versions, the operator can organize the so-called update groups, combining certain devices in them. All servers and storage systems can have dual connectivity to a pair of related devices, minimizing downtime even during maintenance. In fact, a software update on each device takes about 30-45 seconds. Thus, updating an all-data center at 3,000 ports will take less than an hour.



Since a conventional Top-Of-Rack switch can be used as a companion device (remote line card), it becomes possible to use many additional services that are not possible with a simple multiplexer. One of them is local switching in related devices. Intelligent related devices provide features such as distributed multicast, stream-based uplink selection, and local monitoring to optimize bandwidth usage.

Since the software of aggregation devices and related devices is practically not interconnected, there is no need to update the software when adding new modules. When connecting a related device to the system, it is enough to put LFOS into it without any impact on the software of other related devices or aggregation devices.

It is also worth noting that Junos Fusion can use the QFX10000 switches as well as the MX series multi-service routers as aggregation devices and as expansion ports. This makes it possible to obtain such important functionality for data centers as EVPN and VxLAN.



Benefits for Data Center
Junos Fusion architecture makes it easy to scale your data center without complicating your existing infrastructure. So, a data center with 100 ports can easily be expanded to 3000. Each new rack is simply added as additional ports on the aggregation device, without requiring the local configuration of an associated device.

Junos Fusion simplifies not only the provision of data center resources, but also the management, monitoring and updating of software. This, in turn, makes it possible to reduce the capital and operating costs of IT infrastructure. The “auto VLAN sense” function allows you to pre-configure all segments of user groups. The system provides seamless mobility and speeds up all manual operations. The integration of Junos Space Network Director with VMware vCenter simplifies the typical operational tasks of adding new servers and virtual machines to the network. Workload mobility is fully orchestrated and does not require manual user configuration. This not only simplifies the work, but eliminates any chance of operator error.

The new architecture uses a combination of EX4300, QFX5100, QFX 10000 switches and MX series routers. If the customer builds the data center using Junos Fusion or in a horizontally scalable L3 configuration, all the blocks are quite flexible and their set can be used for different data center architectures.

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