What is Junos Fusion?

Ask any CIO today about the major 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 switch from one type of architecture to another.
- Any proposed architecture should support existing applications that require ubiquitous L2 communication 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 simplicity of scalability, 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 so globally. This solution, called Junos Fusion, not only simplifies operations to scale, but also makes resource allocation of large data centers a simple operation. Under the cut details.

General view
The new development combines the levels of access and aggregation of the data center, presenting a simple centralized interface for managing large data centers from one or two cluster-integrated devices. This simplifies the allocation of resources, configuration and operation of the data center.
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Junos Fusion uses a variety of standards-based technologies to ensure scalability simplicity. For example, the IEEE 802.1BR protocol allows the Top-Of-Rack switch in a data center (in terminology called “companion device”) to act as remote line cards in one or a couple of aggregation switches (“aggregation device”). Junos Fusion allows you to use up to 64 associated devices with centralized management. 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 the various components have minimal dependence on each other and communicate using protocols that are similar to routing network building protocols. This allows seamless scaling of the system.

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. Companion devices work on the basis of 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 features that are critical to the functioning of the data center, such as updating software on related devices, monitoring FRU (power and cooling) and monitoring events. All this functionality can be implemented using the JSON-RPC API between the aggregation and related devices. In the new architecture, all these features are already available to customers thanks to the Junos Space Network Director GUI.



Junos Fusion’s aggregation devices can be Juniper MX-series routers or QFX10000 switches, while the accompanying EX4300 or QFX5100 switches can be used to provide users with flexible access using interfaces from 1 GbE to 40 GbE,
which makes it possible to connect any server, storage or service to Junos Fusion.

Key features
Junos Fusion architecture is notable for its increased fault tolerance. Aggregation devices operate in a cluster configuration with an active level of control, ensuring high fault tolerance of the data center. They can function on the basis of different versions of Junos, creating another level of independence and separation of the management level.

As described above, up to 64 related devices can be managed from a single central device or a cluster of two devices — SNMP, log collection, FRU monitoring, and configuration can be managed with it. In addition, the settings can be duplicated between the aggregation devices, due to which it has the most current configuration in the event of a device failure. Tuning 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 associated devices to be completely independent of the others. To update software versions, an operator can organize so-called update groups, integrating certain devices into them. All servers and storage systems can be double connected to a pair of related devices, minimizing downtime even during maintenance. In fact, software update on each device takes about 30-45 seconds. Thus, updating the entire data center at 3000 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 is possible to use many additional services that are not possible with a simple multiplexer. One of these is local switching in the associated device. Intelligent accompanying devices provide features such as distributed multicast, stream-based uplink selection and local monitoring to optimize bandwidth utilization.

Since the software of the aggregation devices and related devices is practically unrelated, there is no need to update the software when new modules are added. When connecting an accompanying device to the system, it is enough to put LFOS in it without any influence on the software of other related devices or aggregation devices.

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



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

Junos Fusion simplifies not only the allocation 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 accelerates all operations that are performed manually. Integrating 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 a customer builds a data center using Junos Fusion or in a horizontally scalable L3 configuration, all the blocks are flexible enough and their set can be used for different data center architectures.

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