GSR, 7600, Juniper M?, oh my!

Thu Jan 8 18:14:18 UTC 2004

> > Many interesting network solutions that have to be dismissed outright
> > because of IOS limitations, weaknesses or bugs can be easily expressed
> > in newer systems, not just JUNOS.
> 
> Example, please.
> 
	Due to a barrage of e-mails I received on the subject I thought I'd
	send a generic reply to the list rather than try to cook up a plethera
	of examples on a one-to-one basis...

	First, if you haven't done so already, I suggest watching the Intro
	to JUNOS web training session on the juniper.net web site:

	http://www.juniper.net/training/elearning/junos_cli/index.html

	Next, the full docs for JUNOS are available without registration at

	http://www.juniper.net/techpubs

	For M series, click on the software link and pick the highest version
	listed their; 6.x would be the most current.

	Once you've looked at the training video and downloaded the docs you
	should be able to drill down to the areas that interst you most. The
	comprehensive index might be good to actually print out for handy
	reference.

	Some areas of interest might include:

	Group inheritance

	Using function/procedure invocation in policys

	Virtual router features; N logical routers in 1 box, more extensive
	   than Redback contexts.

	Operational goodies:

	"Auto Chicken mode" - Basically the JUNOS config is a database and
	   as such you commit changes. You can do an auto reverting commit that
	   restores a known good config after N minutes if the candidate config
	   isn't confirmed; i.e. "#$%#%#$, I just downed the infrastructure link
	   on a remote router"... See "commit confirmed <x>" for details. This
	   feature has been rumored to have saved many a chicken hide!

	 You can leave insane levels of debug turned on without killing the
	 routing or forwarding engines.

 For Juniper: ( You know who you are! )

	 Why not release an "Olive CD" with each new major JUNOS bump? It
	 wouldn't hurt to have every schmoe in the universe that can boot
	 a FreeBSD ISO also be competant in JUNOS! Place it as an iso download
	 in the software docs area.

	 For the squemish in the legal dept. you could remove the code that
	 handles Juniper hardware from the distro and still have an excellent
	 CLI engine and minimal routing platform simulator.

	 I bet if you passed out a stack of "Olive CD's" at a NANOG there would
	 be plenty of takers!

	-Rob