Virtual Switching Extension (VSX) is a virtualization technology for Aruba AOS-CX switches that provides high availability by allowing two switches to appear as a single logical device to connected endpoints.
The primary advantage for servers and workloads includes:
Multi-Chassis Link Aggregation (MLAG): VSX allows for the creation of Multi-Chassis Link Aggregation Groups. This enables bare metal servers and other workloads to connect to two different physical switches using a single LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) bond.
Redundancy and Throughput: Because both links in the MLAG are active, the server benefits from doubled bandwidth and seamless failover; if one switch goes down, the server continues to communicate through the second switch without a port flap.
Control Plane Independence: Unlike older stacking technologies (VSR), VSX maintains separate control planes for each switch. This allows for Live Upgrades, where one switch can be updated while the other continues to forward traffic, ensuring zero downtime for connected workloads.
Why other options are incorrect:
Option B: While VMware hosts can connect, their ability to use LACP is dependent on the VMware license level (e.g., Distributed Virtual Switch requires Enterprise Plus).
Option C: While VSX synchronizes some parameters via the VSX-Sync feature, both switches maintain their own unique configurations (such as IP addresses and hostnames), so they do not literally "share the same configuration".
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