Interested in Setting Up a Juniper Lab

in Juniper
I recently got the JNCIA CBT Nuggets. The instructor recommends a J2330, J2350 and EX2200. But each is in the $800+ range, which would mean a lab that costs $2,400 - $3,000.
Would buying the SRX100H (or
be a better alternative, especially if I plan on moving up the enterprise track? Security would be something maybe later on. But my career goals is to one day have a CCIE R&S and have familiarity with JUNOS from a routing/switching perspective, obtaining the JNCIA, JNCIS-ENT, JNCIP-ENT, JNCIE-ENT. Is there a lab topology to utilize like say Cisco (like for Associate and Professional with three routers and switches, four switches, 6-10 routers for expert).
I tried asking in the SRX thread and didn't get a response.
Would buying the SRX100H (or

I tried asking in the SRX thread and didn't get a response.
Comments
3845 ISR
3825 ISR
2801 ISR
2621XM
4X 3560
3750
And will probably expand it by a few more Cisco routers. I know I could use GNS3 with switches, but I like to get physical hands on. But I'll defi Italy revisit the Olive via VM using Google Fu when I'm fully awoken.
Keep in mind that there's always junosphere, but I understand that it's nice to have real gear locally.
-Bender
last I heard it had to be obtained through an approved Juniper training or education provider.
Check out the below link for pricing and purchasing with a credit card.
https://learningportal.juniper.net/juniper/user_activity_info.aspx?id=5898
-Bender
For anyone who has used Junosphere, roughly how many machine hours did you end up using for various certifications? For an entry-level certification I could see $50 (240 machine hours / 3 devices = 80 machine hours per device) being plenty if JNCIA is anything like CCNA. I'm more curious about the expenditures for the intermediate level certifications.
(The CCNP/CCIP requirements sometimes suggest 10+ devices.)
-Bender
To obtain my two JNCIEs, and hopefully a third one (my JNCIE-SEC attempt is currently being graded) I've spent probably between 10k and 12k on gear. And this has strictly been on the J series routers and then the SRX series devices that I bought out of pocket. I didn't have to buy any expensive EX series switches. Also, I've bought a rack, cables, and not to mention the increased power bill. If I was able to take that money and put it into something like Junosphere, I would have been miles ahead.
For instance, let's take the low number that I figured, 10k. At 50 bucks a day that would buy you about 200 days of Junosphere at 10 VMs a day. And, if it were me, I'd want to take full advantage of those days, since they come in 24 hr reservations, and put in at least 10 hrs when ever I had a reserved day (Actually I'd probably get in 12 to 14 hrs, but 10 hrs is probably more feasible for most people). So I'd be looking at doing this on a day that I didn't have to work, or something like that. Then, doing the math, (10 * 200), equals out to be 2,000 hrs of lab time, more if you are willing to put in longer study sessions. And I can guarantee that I haven't put in anything close to 2,000 hrs of lab time in for my studies.
So, the math makes sense in that I would have saved a lot of money if something like Junosphere was available for me.
It is important to keep in mind that some features are not currently available in Junosphere, but should be available soon. Most, if not all, routing features are available, some security features, and the switch features are coming soon. Most of it all of the features should be there by next year, if not sooner. My group is pushing this big time, since training and developing training material would be tons cheaper, and much more flexible in a virtualized world.
-Bender
Future: CCNP, CCIE
Have you tried the topology wizard in Junosphere? Should make it quite a bit easier than building the files by hand. Let me know if you don't have any luck with that.
-Bender
-Bender
Forum Admin at www.techexams.net
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I'd like to create a document with more detail, screen shots etc, however that will take some time, maybe in the future.
First, create a Qemu image like so :
Download FreeBSD 7.4 install ISO and store it in the same directory as your image.
For this example I'm using :
FreeBSD-7.4-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso
Now boot and install FreeBSD 7.4 using this command:
Once the install splash screen shows up install FreeBSD 7.4 and partition as described here (I will cover the JunOS install!):
Installing Olive 12.1R1.9 under Qemu « Brezular's Technical Blog
Or a Standard install
At the boot partition screen, allocate the entire disc.
Use the Standard boot loader.
At the boot label editor create the following
1024 M File System ----> mount point /
1024 M Swap
16 M File System ----> mount point /dummy
1024 M File System ----> mount point /config
everything else File System ----> mount point /var
Select User type distribution, and install as little as possible
K
Now that you have a FreeBSD 7.4 qemu image download your JunOS image, in this case
Download software for the MX960 platform:
Install Package
M-series, MX high end series & T-series Install Package
MD5 SHA1 12.1R1.9 tgz 447,625,224 28 Mar 2012
The file should be named
jinstall-12.1R1.9-domestic-signed.tgz
I've then stuck this image into an ISO called junos_12-1.iso, which is how I'll pass this along to the qemu image like so :
K, now log in to your FreeBSD 7.4 machine and let's get to work
#First, mount the CDROM with your JunOS image
#let's navigate to /var/tmp
#now let's create a directory to work in
#get there
#extract our install media into our working directory
#I've packed the install media into an ISO and passed this along to qemu
#or you can unpack it from wherever/however you've decieded to store the junos image
#The contents are :
+CONTENTS
+COMMENT
+DESC
+INSTALL
jinstall-12.1R1.9-domestic.tgz
jinstall-12.1R1.9-domestic.tgz.md5
jinstall-12.1R1.9-domestic.tgz.sha1
jinstall-12.1R1.9-domestic.tgz.sig
issu-indb.tgz
certs.pem
#However the only one we're interested in is :
#jinstall-12.1R1.9-domestic.tgz
#Let's create a working directory for this package #get there
#Now let's extract the install package in here to start working on it
#the contents should look like
+CONTENTS
+COMMENT
+DESC
+INSTALL
+DEINSTALL
+REQUIRE
bootstrap-install-12.1R1.9.tar
jbundle-12.1R1.9-domestic.tgz
pkgtools.tgz
#We'll be modifying these two files:
+REQUIRE
+INSTALL
#In both files comment out
re_name=`/sbin/sysctl -n hw.re.name 2>/dev/null`
#and under that line insert:
re_name="olive"
#once modified create a pkgtools directory:
#now enter the directory
#extract pkgtools.tgz like this #the contents are :
pkg/manifest
pkg/manifest.certs
pkg/manifest.sha1
pkg/manifest.sig
bin/checkpic
#We'll need to replace bin/checkpic with /usr/bin/true
#you can do it like this :
#first enter /bin
#now replace "checkpic" with "true"
#let's pack it all up again
#navigate to the next higher level directory from /bin #Your working directory should have the following contents
pkg
bin
#tar it back up
#let's go back up the directory with the jinstall-12.1R1.9-domestic.tgz # our directory contents should look liks this:
+CONTENTS
+COMMENT
+DESC
+INSTALL
+DEINSTALL
+REQUIRE
bootstrap-install-12.1R1.9.tar
jbundle-12.1R1.9-domestic.tgz
pkgtools
pkgtools.tgz
#Remove the working directory we created for pkgtools
#I'd advise against tabbing this sequence out in case you accidentally delete the .tgz archive instead of the directory
#tar this stuff up into our Olive installation package
#now lest navigate to the directory that we place our olive install package in
#Optionally remove the jinstall working directory
#I'd advise against tabbing this sequence out in case you accidentally delete the .tgz archive instead of the directory
#Install our Olive
*see below
This should install our Olive, sit back, chillax and wait for further instructions such as :
Reboot and watch a CBT Nuggets vid or something , it will take some time for the rest to complete, JunOS is gonna do its thing and reboot a couple times.
You'll know when it's done when you see the following line and command prompt:
Type "cli" to enter the "user mode" environment
You'll be ready to start tinkering once you see this prompt
*this is below
If you were following along you may have noticed we did not re-pack the contents of jinstall-12.1R1.9-domestic-signed.tgz
Right now we're in /var/tmp/junos directory with a bunch of other stuff laying around.
There are many a blog and tales for why I opted for this route as opposed to others.
For the time being you may refer to discussions here :
Installing Olive 10.4R1 under VMware | packetmischief.ca
-Bender
Masters Degree Information Security and Assurance (WGU) / Estimated 06/01/2016
Next Up: CCNP Routing Exam | Certified Ethical Hacker Exam
Cisco Lab: ASA 5506-X, GNS3, 1x 2801 Router, 1x 2650XM, 1x 3750-48TS-E switch, 2x 3550 EMI Switches and 1x 2950T swtich.
Juniper Lab: 1x SRX100H2, 1x J2320 (1GB Flash/1GB RAM, JunOS 11.4R7.5), and 4 JunOS Firefly vSRX Routers in VMWare ESXi 5.1