Lab equipment: Juniper

[laptop006]

I'm getting back in networking certifications again as several of my various certifications come due for renewal over the year.

First up are the Juniper certs, and of those, the Enterprise track, so here's my view on what lab equipment is most helpful for each track.

Enterprise

• 2+ EX4200 - The 4200 is the best model to have in the lab as although

Comments

[ext_1580931]

For CPE type devices, you could look at using logical systems on an MX or M series router, or perhaps just virtual routers on some of the lower end devices to reduce the number of physical devices and I guess noise, heat, and power consumption.

Logical systems can essentially act as their own independent router, with their own administrators, routing tables (just like a virtual router), but they can also run their own instances of routing protocols that are totally separate.

You can fire up 15 logical systems on a single box, so you basically get 16 routers for the price of one, which should allow you to create some pretty decent topologies. You just assign interfaces to each logical system while logged in to the physical router, and you can assign sub-interfaces/individual "units" so you can get away with as little as 2 physical interfaces connected back to back and some VLANs.

Im looking to get hold of an M7i for my lab for this reason.

[laptop006]

There's enough you can't do with LS that it's worth having multiple devices, but they can be a nice core of a lab.