Juniper vs Cisco

pearljam

I am currently working in a Data Center and let two men into their rack today. I noticed they had some Juniper equipment and said, "so you prefer Juniper over Cisco?" The one guy started talking and said that it's way better, almost as if there is no comparison. He said to me that "knowing Cisco isn't going to hurt, people will begin to recognize you but Juniper is where it's at."

When I started hearing this, I thought the guy was on crack. Really, what do I know I graduated three months ago and started work two months ago. Have started studying for my CCNA and have never laid hands on Juniper equipment. I'm just starting out. Is there any validity to what these guys were talking about or is it just their personal opinion? Because I see Cisco owning the market, I'm opening racks almost everyday and that was the first piece of Juniper equipment I've seen in two months lol.

TechGuru80

Juniper exists...just like F5. Last time I checked Cisco is in any data center not doing things on the cheap.

TWX

Eh. Juniper, Brocade/Foundry, HP/3com, Extreme, Avaya/Nortel, whatever. Just make it work.

We only pulled our last Foundry FastIron access switches a few months ago and there might still be a couple of core devices running.

pevangel

Cisco has great marketing and they have done well with getting people educated on their products which means a bigger talent pool. Juniper mostly focuses on routing, switching, and security. They're not a big player in wireless and do nothing with voice. They use to have a remote access solution with JUNOS Pulse, but that has broken off into a different company called Pulse Secure.

I'm strictly routing and switching with some security sprinkled in and I do prefer JUNOS over IOS for a ton of reasons. You should try it if you've never used it before. The new IOS variants have a lot of similarity with JUNOS especially IOS XR.

Fadakartel

I think Cisco would be better to learn first then learn Juniper in a DC environment.

In a service provider environment Juniper is the best period they dominate this market hard.

pevangel

I think Cisco would be better to learn first in any environment because there's just so much more material. I have to get a JNCIP pretty soon and there are no materials specific to it. No videos, no official books or study guides. You just have to look at the blueprint and grab information from whitepapers, books, and any other material you can find online. Having CCNP knowledge helped me knock out JNCIS-ENT with just a week of studying.

networker050184

I love Juniper, but Cisco is the big name in the DC industry no doubt. Service provider industry is a bit different. Juniper does seem to be making up a lot of headway in the DC world with some very nice product offerings at well below Cisco prices. The QFX line is pretty great hardware.

As others said though, starting out learn Cisco. It's the most widely used and the learning material is abundant. Just don't get in the "Cisco way is the only way" rut a lot of old timers seem to be stuck in.