Juniper MX Series

No Apologies

We’re avid readers of technology books, and we always get a bit giddy when a new book is released because we can’t wait to read it and learn more about a specific technology. However, one trend we have noticed is that every networking book tends to regurgitate the basics over and over. There are only so many times you can force yourself to read about spanning tree, the split horizon rule, or OSPF LSA types. One of the goals of this book is to introduce new and fresh content that hasn’t been published before.

There was a conscious decision made between the authors to keep the technical quality of this book very high; this created a constant debate whether or not to include primer or introductory material in the book to help refresh a reader’s memory with certain technologies and networking features. In short, here’s what we decided:

Spanning Tree

There’s a large chapter on bridging, VLAN mapping, IRB, and virtual switches. A logical choice would be to include the spanning tree protocol in this chapter. However, spanning tree has been around forever and quite frankly there’s nothing special or interesting about it. Spanning tree is covered in great detail in every JNCIA and CCNA book on the market. If you want to learn more about spanning tree check out Junos Enterprise Switching by O’Reilly or CCNA ICND2 Official Exam and Certification Guide, Second Edition by Cisco Press.

Basic Firewall Filters

We decided to skip the basic firewall filter introduction and jump right into the advanced filtering and policing that’s available on the Juniper MX. Hierarchical policers, two-rate three-color policers, and cascading firewall filters are much more interesting.

Class of Service

This was a difficult decision because Chapter 5 is over 170 pages of advanced hierarchal class of service. Adding another 50 pages of class of service basics would have exceeded page count constraints and provided no additional value. If you would like to learn more about basic class of service check out QoS-Enabled Networks by Wiley, Junos Enterprise Routing, Second Edition by O’Reilly, or Juniper Networks Certified Internet Expert Study Guide by Juniper Networks.

Routing Protocols

There are various routing protocols such as OSPF and IS-IS used throughout this book in case studies. No introduction chapters are included for IS-IS or OSPF, and it’s assumed that you are already familiar with these routing protocols. If you want to learn more about OSPF or IS-IS, check out the Junos Enterprise Routing, Second Edition by O’Reilly or Juniper Networks Certified Internet Expert Study Guide by Juniper Networks.

Virtual Chassis

This was an interesting problem to solve. On one hand, virtual chassis was covered indepth in the book Junos Enterprise Switching by O’Reilly, but on the other hand there are many caveats and features that are only available on the Juniper MX. It was decided to provide enough content in the introduction that a new user could grasp the concepts, but someone already familiar with virtual chassis wouldn’t become frustrated. Chapter 6 specifically focuses on the technical prowess of virtual chassis and the Juniper MX implementation of virtual chassis.

After many hours of debate over Skype, it was decided that we should defer to other books when it comes to introductory material and keep the content of this book at an expert level. We expect that most of our readers already have their JNCIE or CCIE (or are well on their way) and will enjoy the technical quality of this book. For beginning readers, we want to share an existing list of books that are widely respected within the networking community:

Junos Enterprise Routing, Second Edition, O’Reilly

Junos Enterprise Switching, O’Reilly

Junos Cookbook, O’Reilly

Junos Security, O’Reilly

Junos High Availability, O’Reilly

QoS-Enabled Networks, Wiley & Sons

MPLS-Enabled Applications, Third Edition, Wiley & Sons

Network Mergers and Migrations, Wiley

Juniper Networks Certified Internet Expert, Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks Certified Internet Professional, Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks Certified Internet Specialist, Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks Certified Internet Associate, Juniper Networks

CCIE Routing and Switching, Fourth Edition, Cisco Press

Routing TCP/IP, Volumes I and II, Cisco Press

OSPF and IS-IS, Addison-Wesley

OSPF: Anatomy of an Internet Routing Protocol, Addison-Wesley

The Art of Computer Programming, Addison-Wesley

TCP/IP Illustrated, Volumes 1, 2, and 3, Addison-Wesley

UNIX Network Programming, Volumes 1 and 2, Prentice Hall PTR

Network Algorithmics: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Designing Fast Networked Devices, Morgan Kaufmann