VPC vs VSS

Rashmi Bhardwaj | Routing & Switching
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Introduction to VPC and VSS

Both VPC and VSS are used basically to support multi-chassis ether-channel that means we can create a port-channel whose one end is device A, however, another end is physically connected to 2 different physical switches which logically appears to be one switch.

The Differentiation between both the feature set is tabled below –

SNo

VPC

VSS

1Feature specific to NexusFeature specific to catalyst 6500,4500 Series
2Separate control plane for both switches.2 Switches merge to form 1 logical Switch with a single control plane.
3Separate IP for each switch management and configuration.Single IP for management and configuration of 1 Logical Unit (2 Physical Chassis)
4HSRP is required.First Hop Redundancy Protocol like HSRP not required.
5Separate instance of STP, FHRP, IGP, BGP etc. will be required on each physical Switch of VPC.Same instance of STP, FHRP, IGP, BGP etc. will be used on each physical Switch of VSS.
6Both the switches are active and work individually. Only from VPC perspective are they elected primary and secondary.Switches are always primary and secondary from all aspects.
7Supports L2 Port ChannelsSupports L3 Port Channels
8Supports LACPSupports PAGP and LACP
9Control messages are carried by CFS over Peer Link and a Peer keep alive link is used to check heartbeats and detect dual-active conditionControl messages and Data frames flow between active and standby via VSL

Download the comparison table here.

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VPC VS VSS

Continue Reading:

How VPC+ differs from VPC?

Nexus VPC Architecture and Components

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