Virtual Switching Extension (VSX) is a high-availability technology that allows two ArubaOS-CX switches to operate as a single logical device. Split-recovery mode is a feature that prevents traffic loss when the Inter-Switch Link (ISL) goes out-of-sync and keepalive subsequently fails. When split-recovery mode is enabled, the secondary VSX member disables its downstream links until it synchronizes with the primary member. When split-recovery mode is disabled, the secondary VSX member keeps its downstream links up even when it is out-of-sync with the primary member1. Disabling split-recovery mode does not affect how the primary switch takes over again as the primary switch after a failure and reboot. The primary switch always takes over as the primary switch when it comes back online, regardless of the split-recovery mode setting. Therefore, this is not a use case for disabling split-recovery mode on ArubaOS-CX switches in a VSX fabric.

Split-recovery mode is a feature of ArubaOS-CX that prevents traffic loss when the ISL goes out-of-sync and keepalive subsequently fails12. This can happen if the ISL is restored after a failure but the VSX nodes are not synchronized. Split-recovery mode enables the secondary switch to restore its VSX LAGs after 10 keepalive packets are missed, approximately 10 seconds after keepalive goes down2. This avoids a split brain situation where both switches act as primary and forward traffic independently, causing loops and duplicate packets1. Therefore, disabling split-recovery mode is not a use case for preventing split brain situations, and the correct answer is yes. For more information on split-recovery mode and VSX, refer to the Aruba Data Center Network Specialist (ADCNS) certification datasheet3 and the Virtual Switching Extension (VSX) Guide for your switch model2.

You can only leak routes between up to three VRFs is not a rule for the setup of multi-protocol BGP to implement dynamic VRF route leaking on an ArubaOS-CX switch. There is no limit on the number of VRFs that can participate in route leaking using multi-protocol BGP. You can configure multiple import and export route targets for each VRF and leak routes between any VRFs that have matching route targets1.

The ArubaOS-CX portfolio for data center networks consists of different switches for different roles. The Aruba 8400 switches are designed for the core and aggregation layers, while the Aruba CX 6300 and CX 6400 switches are designed for the leaf layer1. Therefore, deploying Aruba 8400 switches as data center leaf switches is not how you should position switches in the ArubaOS-CX portfolio for data center networks. Reference: https://www.arubanetworks.com/solutions/data-center-modernization/

Aruba CX 8325 switches are an appropriate choice for leaf switches in a leaf-spine topology that uses Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) with Ethernet VPN (EVPN) is a correct positioning of ArubaOS-CX switches in the data center. The Aruba CX 8325 switches are designed for data center spine or core roles, but they can also be used as leaf switches in a VXLAN with EVPN scenario. They support advanced features such as VSX, EVPN, and PFC that enable high performance, scalability, and resiliency for data center networks1.