RE: Juniper hardware recommendation

[Adam Thompson <athompson () merlin mb ca>]

Hi, Javier!
MX series: Full-featured – sings, dances, walks the cat, etc. But painful racking (as you noted).  Very nice and 
comprehensive boxes otherwise.  Interfaces are more expensive, but often modular and wider variety.
EX/QFX series: Nice switches, OK L3 routers.  Lots of limitations in MPLS and various other corner-case limitations.

My personal opinion:

  *   Skip the MX480 (and up), it’s just too expensive.  Consider an EX9200 instead, which can do 90% of the same 
functions.  (If you can afford an MX480 or MX960, by all means, get one!)
  *   MX240 is reasonable, but dated.  A pair of MX204s in HA would make more sense, to me.
  *   Skip the MX 2k/10k series – they don’t support SFP+ interfaces!  (“No 10G WDM for you!”)  Also no 1G, you need a 
separate step-down switch for that.  I don’t know what SP Juniper thinks they’re targeting with these.
  *   1U/2U EX/QFX are reasonable edge devices as long as you’ve verified they can do what you need.  Not core-router 
class IMHO.
  *   If you don’t already know that you want a PTX, then you don’t want a PTX.  The product is fine, but niche, and 
has the same interface limitations as MX10k.
  *   ACX: MEF-compliant mini-MX, basically.  Edge device only, pairs well with an MX480 (IIRC).  Top-end are 
exceptions: ACX5k/7k might work, depending on what you need it to do.  Not normally deployed as a core router.

My experience is that you never fill up an EX9208 or MX480 chassis, but the MX240 is too small.  YMMV.  MX480 line 
cards are stupid expensive compared to, well, everything else.

I’m probably out-of-date on some (or much) of my knowledge, let’s see what everyone else here has to say!

-Adam

Adam Thompson
Consultant, Infrastructure Services
[[MERLIN LOGO]]<https://www.merlin.mb.ca/>
100 - 135 Innovation Drive
Winnipeg, MB, R3T 6A8
(204) 977-6824 or 1-800-430-6404 (MB only)
athompson () merlin mb ca<mailto:athompson () merlin mb ca>
www.merlin.mb.ca<http://www.merlin.mb.ca/>

From: NANOG <nanog-bounces+athompson=merlin.mb.ca () nanog org> On Behalf Of Javier Gutierrez Guerra
Sent: Friday, May 7, 2021 3:55 PM
To: nanog () nanog org
Subject: Juniper hardware recommendation

Hi,
Just out of curiosity, what would you recommend using for a core router/switch from Juniper?
MX208,480,10K
Datasheets show them all as very nice and powerful devices (although they do use a lot of rack space and side to side 
airflow is painful) but I’m just wondering here what most people use and how good or bad of an experience you have with 
it 😊
Thanks,

Javier Gutierrez Guerra
Network Analyst
CCNA R&S, JNCIA
Westman Communications Group
Phone: 204-717-2827
Email: guerraj () westmancom com<mailto:guerraj () westmancom com>
[WCG_Corp_Logo_horiz_cFullcolorHR]<http://westmancom.com/personal/>

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