Junos® OS For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Taking Advantage of One Network OS

Network operating systems have a lot do and can have a big impact on the performance, ease of operations, reliability, and security of your network. Junos OS is different, in that it's one operating system. But why does having one operating system matter?

One operating system means the Juniper engineers build upon the same set of code and then share this code, as appropriate, across all the platforms running Junos. For example, enterprise platforms use the same hardened implementation of the routing protocol Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) that has been running in large service provider networks for many years. It's not a different code set, but the same one. (To set up OSPF, see Chapter 10.)

So, if your responsibilities include administrating the network, you find that many features are configured and managed in the same way on the different platforms, whether they are routers, switches, or security devices. One operating system, therefore, saves you time, potentially lots of it, in everything from training to setup to ongoing operations. Also, if you plan changes in the network, one operating system can save you time there, too. With far less variation to evaluate, test, and deploy, it's less effort for feature roll out, software upgrades, and other network modifications.