Cisco vs Adtran vs Juniper

Mon Jul 21 14:45:08 UTC 2008

Thanks very much.... we're looking a series of models currently and all
the feedback I've received so far has been extremely helpful...

Best regards!

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew Elmore [mailto:nanog at mattelmore.com] 
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 9:19 AM
To: nanog
Subject: Re: Cisco vs Adtran vs Juniper

On Jul 18, 2008, at 10:49 AM, Eric Van Tol wrote:
>>
>>
>> I'm looking for some constructive feedback on **real world**
>> experiences
>> please...
>
>
> We're split pretty evenly between Cisco and Juniper boxes and are  
> happy with both.  It all really depends on the services you want to  
> sell or support for your customers, as each box can do different  
> things.
>

I've been using both these boxes for a while, the SSGs in particular,  
so I'll chime in.

Eric is right, the WebUI for ScreenOS is not very good, but it's far  
better than any of the interfaces I've seen on any other security  
devices. It has its quirks, but it does get the job done.

I have no complaints about the SSG hardware, you get decent port  
density across the line and 90% of the functionality you will want is  
there out of the box with no additional licensing required (stateful  
firewall, IPSec, all routing protocols, etc). Don't bother with the  
Antivirus and Antispam on ScreenOS, it sucks and Juniper knows it. The  
web filtering works pretty well, though.

They're very flexible with regards to interoperability with other  
vendors (even Cisco). I've connected one to just about every vendor  
imaginable and there is always a way to make it work.

If you're looking for a cheap router/firewall/VPN box, then the SSGs  
from Juniper are the way to go right now. JunOS Enhanced Services  
could make our lives even better too...

> Both Cisco and Juniper offer great options for this.  CPE from both  
> is typically very solid.  Juniper has the added benefit of being  
> able to convert their J-series boxes to Netscreen SSG firewalls and  
> the cards are interchangeable between the security/J-series  
> platforms.  Of course, this does cost you in license fees.  NAT on  
> the J-series is a pain to set up and unfortunately, the default 256M  
> flash on them is just too small to support an easy JUNOS upgrade.
>>

What he said -- with the J series you get JunOS and now JunOS Enhanced  
Services, so you get a full-fledged firewall as well. No need to  
convert them to ScreenOS (unless you need a feature that hasn't been  
ported from ScreenOS to JunOS ES yet). The only thing I really don't  
like in the J series is the lack of a non rack mount form factor. A  
lot of small and branch offices don't necessarily have racks and it  
can be cumbersome to convince someone they need a 19" wide noisebox to  
be their router.

More on JunOS ES:
http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/software/junos-es/

Regards,
M

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