What is the upper limit for spine switches with leaf HPE Aruba CX 8360-48Y6C v2 using 100 or 40 GbE Leaf-to-spine port speed (when using 2 uplink ports for VSX)?

Question

Options

• A2
• B4
• C6
• D8

• A
  2% (1)
• B
  90% (38)
• C
  5% (2)
• D
  2% (1)

Explanation

Option B (4) is correct because the HPE Aruba CX 8360-48Y6C v2 has 6 x 100GbE QSFP uplink ports, and when 2 of those ports are dedicated to VSX (Virtual Switching Extension - the inter-switch link between the VSX pair), only 4 uplink ports remain available for leaf-to-spine connections, each connecting to a distinct spine switch.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A (2) underestimates - it ignores the 4 remaining usable uplinks after VSX reservation.
• C (6) is a trap - it represents the total uplink port count on the switch, before subtracting the 2 VSX ports.
• D (8) exceeds the physical uplink port count entirely and has no basis in the hardware spec.

Memory tip: Use the formula Total uplinks − VSX ports = Max spines: 6 − 2 = 4. Think of it as the switch "spending" 2 ports on VSX housekeeping, leaving 4 ports free to reach spine switches.

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