VSX

Aruba Virtual Switching Extension (VSX) is virtualization technology for aggregation/core switches running the ArubaOS-CX operating system. This solution lets the switches present as one virtualized switch in critical areas. Configuration synchronization is one aspect of this VSX solution where the primary switch configuration is synced to the secondary switch. This solution allows for a pseudo single plane of glass configuration and helps keep key configuration pieces in synchronization as operational changes are made. Since the solution is primarily for high availability, it is expected that most of the configuration policy is the same across both peers.

VSX virtualizes the control plane of two aggregation switches to function as one device at layer 2 and as independent devices at layer 3. From a datapath perspective, each device does an independent forwarding lookup to decide how to handle traffic. Some of the forwarding databases, such as the MAC and ARP tables, are synchronized between the two devices using a proprietary VSX control plane. Some of the forwarding databases are built independently by each switch.