Introduction

When I wrote the first Juniper Networks software manual in the early summer of 1997, it was about 250 pages. When we shipped JUNOS Release 3.2 in March 1999, the JUNOS manual was just shy of 1,000 pages. I was dismayed at the prospect of having the manual be in two volumes and asked the development engineers to stop writing code. Of course, they didn't honor my request. At the time of this writing, the JUNOS documentation set is 5,700 pages in 13 separate volumes. Similarly, the hardware documentation set has grown from a single 120-page manual to more than 250 pages of documentation for each of six platforms.

When our long-time publishing consultant, Patrick Ames, suggested that we might want to create a small field guide for installing, configuring, and operating Juniper Networks routers, I thought it would be nice to return to a world in which we could document the product in under 1,000 pages. We created a small team of technical documentation writers and editors ”Gary Drenan, Cris Morris, Patrick Ames, and myself ”and together we sifted the contents of all the JUNOS and hardware documentation, extracting the material that we felt was essential for understanding the mission of Juniper Networks and for understanding our hardware and software products. (We felt this was a more prudent method than simply removing all the vowels or deleting all the verbs.)

This book is the result of our extracting and condensing process. We begin with a brief overview of Juniper Networks the company, describing our markets, services, and offerings. While much of this information exists on the Web site ”and we recommend you get the most updated material there ”we felt that the book should provide some background about the company itself.

Chapter 2, "JUNOS Internet Software Overview," presents the big-picture view of the JUNOS software. This chapter is short not by design, but because the JUNOS architecture has always been straightforward, clear, and succinct. In Chapter 3, "Juniper Network Router Overview," our senior hardware writer Gary Drenan has worked diligently not only to review all the components and specifications of both the M-series and new T-series routers, but also to collect and collate it in one place. In creating Chapter 4, "Router Installation and Basic JUNOS Setup," Gary has similarly collected everything about installation, from unpacking the crate to getting the router up and running in the network.

Chapters 4 through 12 are concerned with configuring the router and describing the feature set of the JUNOS Internet software. Beginning with Chapter 5, "CLI and System Management," our senior editor Cris Morris efficiently describes how to work with the software. The following chapters detail interfaces and class of service (in Chapter 6) and IPSec (in Chapter 7). Chapters 8 through 10 get to the heart of IP networking, discussing routing policy and firewall filters, routing and routing protocols, and IPv6, respectively.

Chapter 11 looks at MPLS applications, Chapter 12 at virtual private networks (VPNs), and Chapter 13 contains a useful, tabular summary of all the critical JUNOS Internet software monitoring commands (I suspect these might turn out to be the most dog-eared pages of your field guide). Chapter 13 provides sample configurations that come directly from the Juniper Networks testing labs. Finally, we conclude with a glossary of the many Juniper Networks “specific acronyms and terms so you don't have to try to memorize them all.

While we have tried to summarize the Juniper Networks hardware and software features in this field guide, there will undoubtedly be places where the information is insufficient for your needs. Please refer to the Appendix in this book that lists additional resources. Also remember that you can always find a full and complete discussion in the Juniper Networks technical product documentation.

The Juniper Networks Field Guide and Reference has been edited and reviewed by myself and the core team at Juniper Networks that has been working on this project. However, it represents the work of dozens if not hundreds of Juniper Networks employees over the past five years to write, refine, review, edit, and test the Juniper Networks IP networking technology. While we cannot acknowledge everyone, we would like to acknowledge a few of the key contributors.

First and foremost my fellow editors and I would like to thank the writers, editors, and production and tools contributors to the technical documentation effort over the years: Pat Adams, Dirk Bergstrom, Renu Bhargava, Barbara Bissinger, Faith Bradford, John Chan, Barbara Dahl, Brenda DePaolis, Nancy Edmonds, Betsy Fitch, Stella Hackell, Ed Harper, Jim Hayes, Richard Hendricks, Betsy Herbert, Margaret Jones, Joshua Kim, Jenna Kinghorn, Elizabeth Lichtenberg, Ken Liou, Barbara Matsumura, Donice Mitchell, Eva Moore, Pam Muraca, Rene Partyka, Frank Reade, Liz Rodgers, Regina Roman, Sonia Saruba, Albert Statti, Cathy Steinberg, Alan Twhigg, Ellen Turner, Carrie Unger, and Merisha Wazna.

Second, we would like to thank and acknowledge the members of the development engineering, system test, and mechanical and compliance groups at Juniper Networks, as well as the members of the product management team. I apologize for thanking them as a group , but I fear I would forget many names if I attempted to list them all. For help in the development of this book, I would like to thank Sachin Vasudeva and his team for providing the sample configurations.

Third, we would like to thank our customers ”early adopters, beta customers, and regular customers ”for providing us ongoing feedback and input about our documentation. We would especially like to thank Andrew Partan, Guy Davies, and Randy Bush, as well as John Heasley, Dorian Kim, Jared Mauch, Peter Schoenmaker, Sara Ruhmann, and other members of the Verio network design team.

Finally, I would like to thank Peter Wexler, my first manager at Juniper Networks, for having faith in me and allowing me to create a world-class technical publications group to partner with our peers in engineering. I would also like to thank my husband, David, and my daughter , Sage, for patiently supporting me through the startup years at the company.

Cris Morris would like to personally thank his wife, Laura, for her patience and encouragement.

Gary Drenan would like to personally thank his mother, for, among many things, providing a strong foundation in the English language that has served him well as a writer; Cindy and Arandi, for their constant friendship; and Nicolai, for his invaluable guidance in developing Gary's life and career.

Our joint appreciation goes to Karen Gettman, Emily Frey, Kim Dawley, John Fuller, and Tyrrell Albaugh at Addison-Wesley, and to their many competent and thorough editors and publishing personnel.

If you would like to give us your feedback or errata about this field guide, please send us e-mail at [e-mail].

Aviva  Garrett
September  2002