Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches Reviews

I provide Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches to financial organizations like banks, and I know that the solution is, to date, used in a bank where I have provided it for four years. I haven't got any issues from the bank's side. I think it is a very good product.

From the purpose of the tool as a switch, the features provided by the solution are almost the same. In terms of data handling purposes, I feel Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches are more capable of handling big data compared to the other products in the market. Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches can handle big data switches.

Juniper should improve the support services provided to users, as it is one of its areas with certain shortcomings. Juniper also needs to improve its technologies, especially in the parts revolving around switches.

I have experience providing Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches to my company's clients. I don't have hands-on experience with the tool.

The scalability part of the product is not very complex.

The product's initial setup phase is not complex. The setup phase was straightforward.

I only have experience with two clients who have used the product, but I have not directly deployed it for them.

During the product's deployment, the console needs to be connected to the laptops. The users also need to enter some CLI commands on the laptop for the switches from Juniper.

Though I am unsure, I feel the solution can be deployed in five to ten minutes.

Basically, if it is a large deployment involving lots of processes, the number of people required to deploy and maintain the tool will depend on the project and the number of switches. If you consider deploying a single switch, only one person is required to set it up. If you consider 500 switches, you must assign engineers to manage the switches and locations.

The licensing part of the product is not very good. There is a need to make a payment towards the perpetual licensing model offered by the product and also towards the subscription-based model for hardware replacement. Compared to Cisco's pricing model, Juniper's price is low.

The product's reliability and performance are good areas.

My company's customers face some configuration-related issues with the product. I didn't frequently ask my customers if Juniper was better than Cisco or other tools. I have to check the aforementioned details with my customers. I need to check the aforementioned details with my customers. The last two customers of my company who have been using the product have not complained about it.

Based on my knowledge, Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches is a good product. I recommend Cisco to those who can afford it. I would also recommend Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches to others since it is a good product.

I rate the tool a seven to eight out of ten.

Juniper EX Series is part of the Junos operating system and has a candidate configuration feature, which means changes are not immediately applied. It has a consistent command structure across all platforms and can handle both layer-three routing and layer-two switching. Additionally, the Junos OS offers virtualization options and support for multi-chassis and fabric switching. Overall, the Juniper EX Series is a versatile and powerful solution.

One potential drawback of the Juniper EX Series has been that those without experience using a command-line interface (CLI) may find it intimidating. However, Junos is working on improving this by offering tools, such as Juniper Mist with Wired Assurance and Apstra. Additionally, the graphical user interface (GUI) could be improved as it has been considered lackluster across the board in Junos.

I have used Juniper EX Series within the last 12 months.

I rate the stability of the Juniper EX Series a ten out of ten.

I have not seen a Juniper EX Series massive failure. If there is a failure, it's going to be in their hardware itself, such as burned-out power. However, the OS, it's highly stable. I have customers that have been running these switches for 12 years without turning them off.

Juniper EX Series is highly scalable as switches. They have a high capacity for virtualization, supporting up to 64 or 128 nodes on a virtual chassis with a 48-port switch. They are well-suited for fabric and top-of-rack setups and can scale up exponentially. They are great solutions for connecting data centers.

I rate the support from the Juniper EX Series a nine out of ten.

Positive

The setup process of the Juniper EX Series can be relatively simple if you have the Juniper Mist with Wired Assurance tool. However, if you do not have this tool, it may take some additional research and familiarity with the platform to properly configure it.

The setup process for the Juniper EX series is entirely done through the command-line interface, there is no user-friendly setup wizard available. The configuration requires running specific commands to get it to function.

The solution has a long lifespan and the upfront investment cost may be high, but the return on investment is worth it in the long run as it reduces the need for frequent upgrades to the infrastructure.

The initial cost of the solution can be expensive.

I would recommend this switch over any other switch on the market today.

I rate the Juniper EX Series a nine out of ten.

The solution is easy to use and has good integration.

In an upcoming release, Juniper Ethernet Switches could improve by having more microservices.

I have been using Juniper Ethernet Switches for approximately 10 years.

The solution is stable.

The scalability depends on the environment. For example, if the customer is in a healthcare environment then it is more scalable than other solutions.

We have approximately 30 large customers using this solution.

The technical support is very good. We can talk and have the support of the engineers who are developing the software and features.

We use many other switches, such as Aruba, Hewlett Packard, and Extreme Networks.

The installation is easy if you have certified engineers. You have to have some basic knowledge about the CLI of Juniper to do the installation.

The size of the team needed for the installation depends on the environment. However, we have approximately 10 certified engineers, which can do both, the installations and support of the solution. Additionally, we have architects, junior and senior consultants, and depending on the job we have to do, we can supply different types of engineers.

We have a partnership with Juniper and the price of the solution can be negotiated at a local or a corporate level with Juniper to meet our customer's needs.

There is a subscription payment model or you can purchase licenses on a one, two, and five-year basis. If you want decent support, the solution is not expensive.

I would recommend Juniper Ethernet Switches to others who want a well-integrated, stable, and easy-to-use solution.

I rate Juniper Ethernet Switches a nine out of ten.

We are using this solution as the current network infrastructure in the company.

The most valuable feature is switching on our network.

Wireless and monitoring definitely could be improved. 

I would like to see better monitoring in the next release.

I have been using Juniper Ethernet Switches for five years.

The stability is very good.

The scalability is okay, it could be better. The configuration could be easier, and more simple.

We have approximately 500 users. All of the departments are on a campus-style network with shared buildings and one compound. All of them are interconnected with fiber and have users in multiple buildings. There are approximately 12 buildings.

When we are trying to troubleshoot, we will find the support-type documentation.

We haven't had any issues where we couldn't find the documentation.

Previously, we were using another solution that was not able to provide a certain aspect in terms of LAN security. That is the reason why we switched to Juniper.

We had another contender, Meraki, which is another Cisco product. In terms of management, monitoring seems better than Juniper.

The initial setup was complex.

It's was $100,000 per year.

There are no additional costs other than the licensing fee.

We were evaluating Cisco, HPE, and Juniper. The cost was a big factor in our decision to go with Juniper.

We will be doing an upgrade internally, so we are a bit undecided on whether or not we will continue using this product, or a new solution altogether. 

We are evaluating the price and system functionality.

It's not for the average user, you have to be more technical in order to use it. There are other solutions that are better, with a GUI and easier to use.

If you are comfortable with a pure command line or if you are looking for something simpler where the entire thing could look up the monitoring, support, and cost, I think there are other brands with more features.

I would rate Juniper Ethernet Switches a seven out of ten.

We are using this solution for traffic aggregation. We connect multiple services to virtual infrastructure, connecting customers and aggregating traffic to the core.

We have an on-premises deployment.

The most valuable feature is that the CLI is the same on all of the Juniper devices, including routers, switches, and firewalls.

The protocols can be tunneled, but on a global basis, not on an interface, and this is a feature that should be added.

I would like to see all of the features unified between platforms, families, and models. This would make it easier to upgrade later, without having to change the configuration.

We have not had any problems with these switches. They were stable when we put them into production and they are running things at the moment. We are doing a few things like aggregating the global balance between multiple lines, and we have had no issues so far.

We have a lot of traffic.

It is pretty scalable using virtual traffic. We are not using that feature, but I know that it can scale. There are different models that scale in different ranges.

We have a handful of administrators that work on these units, in addition to our customer base.

We have been in touch with Juniper technicians as well as with Juniper partners.

They are good. They know the product and they know what to propose. We didn't want too much in terms of advanced data center features, so we did not have any problems.

We have two other types of switches that we run in our data center. There are Cisco switches to handle a lower capacity, and we also have Extreme switches.

We purchased Extreme switches because we were given a good price at the time. However, it is a little bit harder to work with Extreme.

With our experience from the past, we found the initial setup to be straightforward.

We connected the console, started the IT manager, then configured the VLANs and the ports. 

If you want an advanced configuration then it can be more complex because it can run in different modes.

There are different licenses available for these switches that are based on the features.

We purchased the box for a one-time charge, and we are paying a yearly support fee of several hundred Euros.

There are many different types of switches in different categories. It is best to look, right from the beginning, at what features are needed. You do not want to pay for Enterprise licenses if you don't need those features.

Be sure to look at the right family in order to protect your investment in the future. For example, if you want to go from 1G to 10G to 25G, then they will need to buy a new product. Going from 10G to 25G can be done on the same machine if it is from the right family. The planning makes it easier to upgrade bandwidth in the future, protecting your investment.

This is a good product, but it is not extraordinary. It does the job.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We are using the product as edge switches. We have a core switch in one of our branches also, a Juniper switch.

There's no specific benefit like I like this or I don't like it, however, it is just allowing us to have a multi-vendor environment. We have other switches also, like boundary switches which are Brocade switches. We are currently we are using a lot of Cisco switches. About 70% of our switches are Cisco.

The solution is stable and scalable.

It's a product that is simple to set up.

Of the current engineers that are working in Egypt, most of them are familiar with Cisco and not all of them used to work on Juniper switches. That's why those switches aren't very famous in Egypt.

The stability could be better. We find, for example, Cisco, to be more stable.

I've been using the solution for more than five years now.

The stability is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

The solution offers good scalability.

It is a multi-vendor environment, so the total environment itself has about 1,000 users. They use various switches, however.

I've never needed to contact technical support. I can't speak to how they are in terms of the level of service. 

We also use Brocade and Cisco. While Cisco is more stable, it is more expensive as well.

The initial setup is straightforward and doesn't take too much time. It's a pretty quick deployment. 

For deployment and maintenance, we have two people who handle everything. They handle networking, switching, and routing. 

It is less expensive than, for example, Cisco. We pay a yearly licensing fee. 

In our environment, we are using a different vendor approach as we don't want to depend on a single vendor.

I'd advise other companies, especially if they are an enterprise, to not deal with a single vendor.

I would rate the solution a seven out of ten.

We currently use Juniper for all of our switching/routing infrastructure. Core, aggregate, and access layers are all made up of Juniper components. We also procured and use Junos Space as well as Network Director.

We moved to Juniper from an outdated Cisco environment, so the immediate change was extremely dramatic (as it should be with any new vendor). In regards to Junos Space Network Director, we are able to have more visibility into the whole infrastructure than we were able to previously.

We have found Junos to be the most valuable feature. It is extremely flexible and easy to pick up. The layout (similar to .XML) does take some time to get used to, but there are commands you can use to help alleviate these concerns.

Updates and management tools: 

• The updates are constantly broken, which has been a problem for years. You definitely need to read the release notes to understand the whole situation before upgrading.
• The management tools are nice, but they are limited in their abilities. The tools suffer from upgrade problems.

Six years.

When upgrading to a new Junos version, we had to revert back once. We found out the chassis was having major problems. This was noted in the community forum. Stability for long term releases are pretty good seem to be stable, but keep in mind that upgrading to newer code might mean bugs.

There are no problems with scalability. The ability to add switches to a virtual-chassis means adding/removing is an easy task.

Support is hit and miss. Currently, we have had issues with support. Juniper called me back about a bad review. It was nice speaking to somebody on the phone. I felt that they were taking my concerns seriously. 

We previously used Cisco and Extreme Networks. We switched due to our planned refresh cycle, as well as cost. 

We had a vendor do the initial setup and configuration.

We don't track ROI.

You don't need to license every switch. We only chose to cover support on core/key equipment and keep a cold spare available when needed.

We had an open bid process. We evaluated Cisco, Extreme Networks, Brocade, and Juniper.

It works with third-party SFPs.

We are using multiple EX4200 Virtual Chassis Stacks in an on-premises deployment.

The way we have it configured is that it is our core switch model that holds up our entire infrastructure.

The most valuable feature of this solution is reliability.

The ease of management through the command line interface is very good.

It would be nice to have a more available list of modules that you can get for this solution. One of the hardest things that I've found when I go looking for modules on those switches is actually finding a thorough list of them.

The stability of this solution is rock solid. The only time we've had an issue is when one of the redundant power supplies shorted out. I don't think that this was the fault of the solution. Rather, I think it was due to a failed power line, perhaps a spike in power.

This solution is extremely scalable. We had to add a new line module and we were able to do it while it was hot, so we didn't have any downtime.

This solution makes up the core of our network, so everybody in the company relies on it. We're predominately web-facing, so it supports our public-facing infrastructure. It is difficult to estimate the number of users that it supports.

We have been in touch with Professional Services. They are excellent, and they're always on time.

The responses are timely and they're very knowledgeable. If they're unsure then they will quickly consult other team members. The engineers that are dealing with it won't just sit there and try to figure it out themselves. They'll engage other members in their environment as quickly as they can. They get the issue resolved, so it's great.

We were using a solution from Cisco previously, but we were having issues with those, which is one of the reasons that we switched to Juniper. From what I can remember, the Cisco solution was not able to get the throughput that we required. Also, we required the ability to do hot swap-overs of the devices.

One of the main things with Cisco is that any of the changes that you made were instant, whereas, with Juniper, we can actually stage the changes before we apply them. Also, for the Cisco product, it was a really, really expensive product range. 

The initial setup of this solution is straightforward.

The deployment took one day at each of two different sites.

I was on-site for the deployments, but we had a consultant come in and do it for us.

The maintenance cost is approximately €2,000 ($2,200 USD) per year, including support, for our entire fleet.

We evaluated other options including some by Cisco and HP. 

If you're looking at this solution from an ethernet switching point of view, we don't use any of the in-depth features. We selected this solution for its reliability and ease of management on the command line.

My advice to anybody who is implementing this solution is to plan it out in advance. Other than that, they're relatively straightforward. There are no major issues or items that I could call out as a problem. It's just a case of making sure that you plan our your deployment before you start.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.