1.4 Technical Certification Program

The Juniper Networks Technical Certification Program (JNTCP), introduced in 2001, draws on on-the-job experience and Juniper Networks' recognition of the industry's ever-widening acceptance of certification. Based on these factors, two certifications were developed: the JNCIS and JNCIE. Here is how they roughly compare with Cisco certifications:

• Cisco Foundation Routing and Switching (FRS) Exam versus Juniper Network's JNCIS Exam: In complexity and breadth of coverage, the JNCIS exam is very similar to the Cisco FRS Foundation Routing and Switching exam. In practice, passing the JNCIS is like passing the Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) written exam. The certification itself is roughly equivalent to achieving the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification. Once you have gained the JNCIS certification, you have completed the prerequisite for the JNCIE Practical Exam.

• Cisco CCIE Practical Exam versus Juniper Networks' JNCIE Practical Exam: These two exams are both intense , hands-on exams that allow each vendor to measure the test-taker's networking expertise and experience with the product. Individuals taking the test should expect to be tested on any topic supported by the vendor in hardware, software, or the configuration of either.

1.4.1 JNCIS

The JNCIS is a 90-minute, 73-question, multiple-choice and task-driven test with a passing score of 70 percent. This exam is computer-based and available at Prometric testing centers for a cost of US$125. The test is geared directly towards individuals working within the ISP industry who are using Juniper Networks products. Questions stress knowledge of the JUNOS command-line interface (CLI) hierarchy, as well as BGP regular expressions. In one test taker's experience, the questions regarding router configuration did not, as Cisco certification tests typically do, require typing commands or choosing from a list of commands.

The scope of the material covered by the Juniper Networks multiple-choice exam is great, and the difficulty of the test is compounded in an interesting way: For most questions, there are Cisco-centric commands mixed in with the correct answers.

When taking the JNCIS be aware of the following 11 categories of questions:

• OSPF

• IS-IS

• BGP

• Hardware

• MPLS

• Network management

• Security

• Interfaces

• Miscellaneous

• Policy

• Multicast protocols and architectures

Your printed test results will be provided to you upon completion of the exam. It will show the percentage answered correctly in each area. For example, you may get 33 percent correct in the network-management category. This will help you to identify and determine areas where you need to improve. Juniper Networks limits applicants to three attempts in 6 months. After passing this test, you have 12 months to take the JNCIE practical exam.

1.4.2 JNCIE

The JNCIE is a 2-day exam (8 hours per day) held at select Juniper Networks locations (these locations will be identified later in this chapter). To attempt this test, you must have passed the JNCIS exam within the past year. The exam is monitored and videotaped. Your pass/fail status will be available within 10 calendar days of completing the exam. During this exam, you will be expected to deal with routes and traffic that is both "live" and artificially generated. If you do not pass the exam, there is a mandatory 2-month waiting period instituted by Juniper Networks between test attempts. If you pass the test, you must renew your certification every 2 years with an online test and attendance at the Juniper Networks IP Focus conference.

The goal of the JNCIE Practical Exam is to have the candidate build and troubleshoot a network using technologies that would be found in today's Internet. Specifically, this means that you can expect a pure IP-based network with complex scenarios that test your knowledge of the technologies and how they should be properly implemented using Juniper Networks equipment. The exam focuses on technologies, such as BGP, OSPF, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), SONET, Packet over SONET (POS), Gigabit Ethernet (GigE), MPLS, and VPNs.

As of the writing of this book, there are 16 JNCIEs worldwide, the majority of which are employed by Juniper Networks. Chief Technology Officer Pradeep Sindhu of Juniper Networks was granted JNCIE #1. The benefits of JNCIE certification include being presented with an engraved crystal plaque recognizing your accomplishment, the ability to use a Juniper Networks Certification Logo, and 24/7-priority access to the Juniper Technical Assistance Center (JTAC).

You can take the JNCIE lab exam at three locations in the world:

1. Amsterdam, the Netherlands

2. Sunnyvale, California, USA

3. Herndon, Virginia, USA

The most up-to-date certification information can be found online at www.juniper.net/training/certification/resources.html.

1.4.3 Studying for Juniper Networks Certification

There are not, at present, very many resources available to help you study for the Juniper Networks certifications. This text is one of the best resources for the information. Another excellent source is the Juniper Web site, itself, at www.juniper.net/techpubs. The documents at this site will be referenced throughout this book.

1.4.3.1 Certification Preparation Guide

This book is an excellent study guide for Juniper Networks certification. Juniper Networks has an outline on its Web site, as shown later, that provides some guidelines regarding technical requirements and how to prepare for both the JNCIS and JNCIE examinations. You will notice, as you read this book, that we have endeavored to keep our text within the recommended outline published by Juniper Networks. We feel this makes the book a useful educational tool for you as you prepare for the JNCIS certification.

The list of references shown later should, of course, be viewed as a broad overview from which the test designers construct the examination question bank. The information, from the official Certification Preparation Guide on the Juniper Networks Web site at www.juniper.net/training/certification/prep_guide.html, is included here for you to use as a reference when preparing for the exam.

1.4.3.2 Recommended Reading

The first step in preparing to take any course or certification exam is adequate preparation. This is especially true if you are preparing for a hands-on practical certification test. One of the best ways to prepare for a Juniper Networks certification is, of course, to read this book. The exam also presumes a certain level of knowledge. One of the ways Juniper Networks developed the exam was to define the knowledge and resources you should use to prepare. These requirements grow ever larger as you approach the JNCIS level.

Based on the recommendations from Juniper Networks, we have developed a list of books to help you prepare for the entire range of Juniper Networks certifications. This recommended reading includes many popular networking books that have stood the test of time and peer review, so we feel comfortable in recommending them.

• Introductory text

  Cisco Internetworking Handbook , 2nd ed., Cisco Press.

• TCP/IP theory

  W. Richard Stevens, TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols , Addison-Wesley, 1994.

  F. Baker (ed), RFC1812: Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers.

  Jeff Doyle, Routing TCP/IP , Vols. 1 and 2, Cisco Press.

• BSD Networking code

  Gary R. Wright and W. Richard Stevens, TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 2: The Implementation , Addison-Wesley, 1995.

• BGP

  Sam Halabi and Danny McPherson, Internet Routing Architectures , 2nd ed., Cisco Press.

  John W. Stewart, BGP4 Inter-Domain Routing in the Internet , Addison-Wesley, 1999.

• OSPF

  Thomas M. Thomas II, OSPF Network Design Solutions , 2nd ed., Cisco Press.

  John T. Moy, OSPF: Anatomy of an Internet Routing Protocol , Addison-Wesley, 1998.

• ISIS

  ISO10589: IS-IS Intradomain Routing Protocol.

  RFC1195: Use of Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) IS-IS for Routing in TCP/IP and Dual Environments.

• IGMP, DVMRP, PIM, and MSDP

  Beau Williamson, Developing IP Multicast Networks , Cisco Press.

  Dave Kosiur, IP Multicasting , Wiley Computer Publishing, 1998.

  Thomas A. Maufer, Deploying IP Multicast in the Enterprise , Prentice Hall, 1998.

• RSVP

  David Durham and Raj Yavatkar, Inside the Internet's Resource reSerVation Protocol: Foundations for Quality of Service , John Wiley & Sons.

• MPLS

  Bruce S. Davie and Yakov Rekhter, MPLS: Technology and Applications , Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.

• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

  William Stallings, SNMP, SNMPv2, SNMPv3, and RMON 1 and 2 , Addison-Wesley, 1993.

• QoS and DiffServ

  Kalevi Kilkki, Differentiated Services for the Internet , New Riders Publishing.

  Zheng Wang, Internet QoS: Architectures and Mechanisms for Quality of Service , Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.

  Paul Ferguson, Geoff Huston, Quality of Service , John Wiley & Sons.

• Frame Relay

  Walter J. Goralski, Frame Relay for High-Speed Networks , John Wiley & Sons.

• SONET

  Walter J. Goralski, SONET , McGraw Hill.

  Uyless Black, SONET & T1 Architecture , Prentice Hall, 1997.

• ATM

  David E. McDysan and Darren L. Spohn, ATM Theory and Applications , McGraw-Hill, 1998.

  David Ginsburg, ATM Solutions for Enterprise Internetworking, Second Edition , Addison-Wesley, 1999.

• Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)

  James Carlson, PPP Design, Implementation, and Debugging, Second Edition , Addison-Wesley, 2000.

1.4.3.3 Solutions and Technology Resource Center

Juniper Networks has assembled a repository of technical data at www.juniper.net/techcenter. This area of the Web site is available to everyone. If you do not have access to all of the books listed previously, this is a great alternative for accessing technical resources and reading material. You will find resources that range from solution documents, interoperability papers, performance analysis, technology notes, and white papers on various topics. You are definitely encouraged to take a look at this area.