Peter Southwick - Juniper Networks Warrior: A Guide to the Rise of Juniper Networks Implementations

The network has changed a lot recently, with 10 years worth of developments packed into just 2 or 3. Those changes have been in specific network domains. The industry has grown out of the just put another rack in approach, because putting another rack in does not necessarily equate to gaining more bandwidth or more services or more security. Patching your limping network with a new box will give you a faster limping network .

The rise of systemic networking has in turn given rise to the Juniper Networks warrior. While its not a given that they know more than or are better than other vendors professional installers, Juniper Networks warriors think in terms of network platforms and how the entire architecture works for the client. They think in terms of extra capacity in the near future and long-term scalability for the client. They also think in terms of domains: the needs for the service provider edge are different than those of a campus or branch network, but both might use the MX480. For a Juniper Networks warrior, the deployment adapts to the domain rather than the domain bending to accommodate what the deployment cant do.

An explosion of system-wide architectures and network deployments has occurred in the past five years, and I have seen it happen firsthand as a professional services networking engineer (and trainer). I am one of many, and I have encountered both warriors who are umpteen times smarter than I, and others who I have had to drag along by the scruff of the neck. Our numbers are growing.

This book presents a series of network engineers travelogues that I hope will entertain and illuminatethey show specific configurations in this new world, where a systemic approach is actually cheaper, easier, and better than squeezing in another rack.

More specifically, I hope these chapter-length travelogues will show our warriors ability to think on our feet, because no two networks are the same even if they fall in the same domain. A common warriors morning lament is OMG, how are we going to fix that!? But then we put on our shoes and walk into the meeting room and figure it out somehow. And we do it every day, every week, at almost every deployment. As the saying goes, sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you . Thankfully, the bear does not win very often, and were still here, gettin the bear.

In most engagements, the equipment has been ordered, the sales deal is done, the media has over hyped the issues, everyone wants new networking power, the deadline is looming, and the politics of the client are, well, very visible. You fly in like a smoking gun, meet with a half dozen other warriorssome you know, some you dontand you are expected to perform like a well-oiled machine for the next week or month, cooped up together, sleeping and eating like a band of foot soldiers. What you do has to be flawless, meticulous, speedy, and mindful of the whims of the client.

As the world favors these platform architectures more and more, the network warrior must perform on a systemic stage. Hats off to you, my fellow network warriors. Its showtime!