Likelihood to Recommend The [Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches] is very well suited for datacenter core and distribution models, they work very well as a replacement for the 3850 switches that many smaller organizations use for core switching. The Catalyst 9500 series switches also works very well as a top of rack aggregation switch for SFP and QSFP connectivity.
Read full review They work great as core switches, data center switches, top of rack switches. They can even serve as routers, their routing capability is great, except for where you need lots of routing processing power. I would not use many of them for branch office switches though, due to noise and slowness of bootup
Read full review Pros Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches are capable of 10g/40g with a great selection of ports for these speeds. The Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switch is a very capable piece of kit, supporting a lot of Cisco's new feature sets. Cisco IOS is the gold standard for switch operating systems. Read full review Very stable. Cost efficient Easy management Great Juniper 24*7 TAC support Different variants available for different requirements. Easy to replace faulty hardware Read full review Cons Well the ACI, so the AP, the controller give us good chances to run everything, to configure everything. But the monitoring itself, it's not that easy. You need other products like Nexus dashboard or something else to do the monitoring. This is a little bit of a con. It's another technology so everyone has to think a little bit of others to adapt this knowledge and it takes two years I think for a technician to understand what ACI is really doing and what we can do with it. Read full review Virtual chassis new switch has overwritten existing config if not performed in a particular way. Applying a configuration to a range of interfaces could be done in a better way. Applying firewall rules to multiple security zones could be done a little more efficiently. Read full review Likelihood to Renew Based on the site load and requirements, the switches meets our processing and fiber ports requirements. Also they have great potential for future programmability options we are looking into.
Read full review Usability It has great potential. It can support 10, 40, 100 Gig ports. The chipset are high processing capabilities
Read full review The Juniper EX Series Switches are very easy to configure and quick to deploy. The ability to make changes and troubleshoot issues is top-rated. I have never had trouble contacting support. They also have many knowledge articles on use. Always adding new features to the Juniper Mist Dashboard for easy visibility into your network
Read full review Support Rating Cisco TAC engineers are very responsive and supportive.
Read full review Many times when contacting Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches support, it seems that it is easiest for support to recommend a straight replacement (RMA) instead of taking time to walk through a solution on the faulty system. We find we get better help from a third-party consulting firm that has Juniper certified technicians or professionals on staff. They take the time to explain processes and workflow, which Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches support seems to shy away from.
Read full review Alternatives Considered The Catalyst 9400 was not out when we were looking at new core switches. We thought about using a Nexus 9k but neither were as good of a fit as the 9500. Between price and performance it was a no-brainer for us to look at the 9500. We have not nor in the future would we consider other brands for core switching.
Read full review The rollback, commit and confirm are the biggest players in the game. Juniper is the only one who has those features, so I believe they have a leg up in the game. The CLI is one of the easiest to work with.
Read full review Return on Investment These switches did require a purchase of the DNA license on top of standard switch licensing, even if the functions are no needed in the environment. The increased SFP & QSFP connectivity enabled for faster processing within our compute environment. While the system is too new to quantify the value added in this, it undeniably will help with its ROI. Read full review From a user's point of view, the ease of configuration and management has been incredible. Much less time is spent maintaining Juniper than previous solutions. From a reseller's point of a view, Juniper is excellent. They treat small partners like us very well even if our volume is not huge. Juniper switches are part of our standard solution that has been great for our customers. Read full review ScreenShots