While physical switches integrate all components into one chassis, the virtual vQFX separates them to run more efficiently on standard server hardware.
: The RE must be linked to a corresponding PFE image (e.g., vqfx-20.2R1.10-pfe-qemu.qcow2 ) via a dedicated internal interface, often named em1 , to allow the control plane to communicate with the data plane. Usage in Network Labs vqfx202r110reqemuqcow2 exclusive
: Stands for Routing Engine . In a vQFX setup, you typically need two separate virtual machines: one for the RE and one for the PFE (Packet Forwarding Engine) . While physical switches integrate all components into one
: The file extension for QEMU Copy-On-Write version 2 . This is a versatile disk image format that supports thin provisioning, meaning the file only grows as data is actually written to it, saving significant disk space on the host machine. The Role of the RE Image In a vQFX setup, you typically need two
: Denotes the virtual version of the QFX series switch, specifically designed for lab environments and network design testing.