Packet Pushers podcasts on Juniper certifications

JDMurray

The Packet Pushers podcast has a very recent episode on the current state of Juniper certifications:

Show 74 – Juniper Certification Track Update

And one from a year ago:

Runt Packet No. 7 – Big Things Ahead For Juniper Certifications

spiderjericho

I listened to this last week. It was decent and helps to give the listener a good idea of the current certification landscape. The only issues were the one gentleman said the SRX100s can be had for cheap like 2600 routers for CCNA, which isn't true.

The price Of entry is still high on these certifications because of the Juniper Marketshare, reseller market, study material besides, etc. I think it'll change once Junisphere is free and readily available. Olive is there but it's not user friendly for the casual sturdier.

nel

spiderjericho wrote: »

I listened to this last week. It was decent and helps to give the listener a good idea of the current certification landscape. The only issues were the one gentleman said the SRX100s can be had for cheap like 2600 routers for CCNA, which isn't true.

The price Of entry is still high on these certifications because of the Juniper Marketshare, reseller market, study material besides, etc. I think it'll change once Junisphere is free and readily available. Olive is there but it's not user friendly for the casual sturdier.

Will junosphere ever be available for free? i had a quote from a reseller and it was rather expensive imo - unless a company was paying for it. Once the price comes down it sounds like it will be a great tool though. i really like juniper so are hoping this becomes viable to open doors to their higher certs for me.

Its true what you mentioned about the SRX the entry price is very high imo. i have a loan of a 240 on order through a reseller so im hoping to do the JNCIS-SEC whilst i have it, otherwise it would be difficult to justify. Obviously a 240 is probs overkill but its product eval for a solution we may implement. The SRX's seem like an very good product though.

spiderjericho

In the podcast and a previous, they said the Junosphere project is still new and there might be a scaled down education version later on. If they were $mart, they would do it soon. The main reason why companies aren't buying Juniper in heavy volume compared to Cisco and people training is simply unfamiliarity with JUNOS. They obviously have a price advantage from what I've seen. Also, the modularity of JUNOS is pretty good too.

I would love to delve into their associate and professional cents but it's just cost prohibitive and the organization I work for uses Cisco. We do have a Juniper EX switches deployed at every site. Not many are familiar with the command line. I tried the JUNOS as a second language but you need heavy exposure to the OS to develop proficiency.

Cisco CLI can be had from Packet Tracer, IOU, GNS3 and BOSON/Sybex/Cisco network simulator.

And Cisco is missing the boat on IOU or GNS3 by developing an official developer training program like Microsoft Technet.

JDMurray

Making a firmware OS simulator is a really big job. Anyone who tackles it without having access to the original firmware's source code must have a command of the full operation of the OS very well. A CUI-based simulator is otherwise rather easy to write.

spiderjericho wrote: »

The only issues were the one gentleman said the SRX100s can be had for cheap like 2600 routers for CCNA, which isn't true.

Maybe he was thinking of Netscreen boxes. I picked one up for $10 running ScreenOS 5.0.0.

Slowhand

spiderjericho wrote: »

And Cisco is missing the boat on IOU or GNS3 by developing an official developer training program like Microsoft Technet.

I would be 100% in favor of Cisco acquiring Dynamips/GNS3 and releasing a "student version" of the IOS: a limited enterprise license that's got every feature, but has neutered performance, limited number of connections, no tech support, etc., that could be installed on emulators and hardware alike. This would be especially helpful when they finally retire IOS version 12.4 altogether and begin testing on IOS version 15 for the exams.

spiderjericho

JDMurray wrote: »

Making a firmware OS simulator is a really big job. Anyone who tackles it without having access to the original firmware's source code must have a command of the full operation of the OS very well. A CUI-based simulator is otherwise rather easy to write.

Maybe he was thinking of Netscreen boxes. I picked one up for $10 running ScreenOS 5.0.0.

I don't know what he was referring to. Right after I heard him say it, I went on Ebay to verify it, as I was looking at a few Juniper routers not too long ago. And they were $500 and up. This is ISR 2800 and CAT 3560 territory and prohibitively expensive to study for. With Cisco, they've had their training/certification programs for quite a bit of time, so the reseller market is there for someone to go buy a 2600, 1700, 2950 Switch, etc.

And I have to say Cisco, Juniper and several other vendors are failing in that they offer these "training" programs/certifications, especially Cisco which has the Network Academy Program and a robust certification program with various tracks, but no way for students to actively test or apply what they're learning except if they work for a partner, attend a boot camp (which we know won't teach you anything), college class or nebulous means (GNS3, IOU, Olive, reseller marketetc).

While companies like VM, Netapp or Microsoft offer avenues for learning, development.

You want to study VCP5, just download ESXi 5 and use eval editions of the supplemental software. All you need are two servers.

Linux+, simply download a distro and practice on an ESXi, Virtualbox or VMware player/workstation or install on a laptop.

MCTIP, use either eval copies or get a technet account for $200+.

I'd gladly pay $200 for something similar on Cisco, that will assist me in certification study and Proof of concepts or testing before deployments.

And I'd say in regards to CCNA, there are many ways to attain the certification, self study and buy a lab/use GNS3, Network Academy, boot camp.

My point is Juniper needs to catch up. More people are going to pursue their certifications if JUNOSPHERE is available for free (obviously scaled down from the cloud version).

nel

spiderjericho wrote: »

I don't know what he was referring to. Right after I heard him say it, I went on Ebay to verify it, as I was looking at a few Juniper routers not too long ago. And they were $500 and up. This is ISR 2800 and CAT 3560 territory and prohibitively expensive to study for. With Cisco, they've had their training/certification programs for quite a bit of time, so the reseller market is there for someone to go buy a 2600, 1700, 2950 Switch, etc.

And I have to say Cisco, Juniper and several other vendors are failing in that they offer these "training" programs/certifications, especially Cisco which has the Network Academy Program and a robust certification program with various tracks, but no way for students to actively test or apply what they're learning except if they work for a partner, attend a boot camp (which we know won't teach you anything), college class or nebulous means (GNS3, IOU, Olive, reseller marketetc).

While companies like VM, Netapp or Microsoft offer avenues for learning, development.

You want to study VCP5, just download ESXi 5 and use eval editions of the supplemental software. All you need are two servers.

Linux+, simply download a distro and practice on an ESXi, Virtualbox or VMware player/workstation or install on a laptop.

MCTIP, use either eval copies or get a technet account for $200+.

I'd gladly pay $200 for something similar on Cisco, that will assist me in certification study and Proof of concepts or testing before deployments.

And I'd say in regards to CCNA, there are many ways to attain the certification, self study and buy a lab/use GNS3, Network Academy, boot camp.

My point is Juniper needs to catch up. More people are going to pursue their certifications if JUNOSPHERE is available for free (obviously scaled down from the cloud version).

You have some good points there. These are things ive personally experienced when looking at certing up in Juniper. However, a work colleague attained his JNCIE-ENT and has spoken many times to people like Liz Burns. Juniper are working really hard to improve such situations but sadly, as always, these things take time. In the last 12 months theyve came along way but are realistic they have further to go. Just look at the fast track website, theres some excellent free resources, i only wish they would start to offer the higher level P exams too.

I for one are excited for Junipers future and can hopefully get cross qualified in Cisco/Juniper. Although i havent used Junosphere, ive heard its a very exciting project, albeit not cost effective from a self study funded view at the moment.