This article describes the issue of the mixed mode VC, which is by default, not available on EX4200 series switches.

When the following command is issued on EX4200 switches, the Virtual Chassis Mode is seen as Mixed and Mode ID as Y:

Switch@juniper> show virtual-chassis



Virtual Chassis ID: 5498.7953.4040

Virtual Chassis Mode: Mixed
                                                Mstr              Mixed Neighbor List

Member ID     Status    Serial No    Model      prio     Role     Mode ID  Interface

0 (FPC 0)     Prsnt     BN0208189107 ex4200-24p 128      Master*    Y



By default, some of the Ex4200 switches do not have this enabled.

Whenever there is a mixed mode Virtual Chassis, which comprises of different hardware, the capability of the Virtual Chassis as a whole entirely depends on the lowest physical capable device.

For example, if you have the 4500 and 4200 devices, the route capacity of the 4500 device is 10k and 4200 device is 16k, which is lower than that of the 4200; so, the VC as a whole will have 10K as the routing capacity and not 15K, as the lower value is considered.

To make an EX4200 switch compatible with the mixed mode, issue the following command:

user@switch> request virtual-chassis mode mixed