Juniper SRX Series Firewalls vs. OpenVPN Access Server

SRXs seem to be well suited at the enterprise level for plain routers, firewalls, and IDP/IDS. They work well on MPLS and Ethernet, including Internet. I have 3 SRXs also performing edge duty, with 2 in a high availability (HA) cluster. The Juniper line of SRXs provides a good range of scaling from small business to extremely large enterprise. Wire speed is a common comparison factor and Juniper shines in that area.

Incentivized

If you looking for a reliable, light weight and secure VPN server, than OpenVPN Access Server is the one. Easy to install and manage, OpenVPN will provide secure remote connections, with a very good integration with almost all LDAP directories, for user management. With my experience, I don't see any scenario that OpenVPN won't be able to handle.

Incentivized

• Edge Device (Tunneling & Routing)
• Routing Instances
• Zone Based Firewall
• L3 Gateway/Vlan termination
• DHCP Server & DHCP Relay
• Good support community & Good available documentation
• Good support by the Vendor

Incentivized

• Speed of logging in.
• Lengthy session times.
• Ease of troubleshooting.

Incentivized

• My only real criticism of the product is that it's hard to figure out how to upgrade the firmware from the CLI via TFTP via the docs, but it works great once you get it sorted.

Incentivized

• some times error logs are not clear
• Configuring 3rd party apps can sometimes be problematic
• Limited functionality for iPhone users, but I believe that is due to an apple issue.

Incentivized

Whatever console or firewall you are running OpenVPN Access Server, it's configuration is very easy to do. You can create multiple tunnels, with different pourposes and authetication methods. It also has a quick and easy view of the connections opened, with possible actions, such as a very efficient kill switch and reconnect options.

Incentivized

This is the one area where I have a beef with Juniper. When I called into Cisco TAC, 90% of the time, the first person I spoke with was able to resolve my issue. With Juniper TAC, 90% of the time, the first person I speak with is not able to resolve my issue, seems to almost be reading from a script, and must escalate my ticket. All of which takes time.

Incentivized

Juniper SRX stands tall compared to all these products for Large Service Provider Networks, where traffic volume is larger. Also, cost comparison with SRX's few other products can also be another contributing factor while selecting this. As well as Juniper Routers, Switches, and multiple products from the same vendor to maintain one single vendor environment. As well as Juniper Support is also really good.

OpenVPN had a better UI and usability for our team. It was more straightforward, had better SAML integration, and allowed our team to be on the VPN and on our network in seconds. We had some issues getting Nord to work for our use cases, and have run into pretty much zero issues with OpenVPN.

Incentivized

• It is a workhorse for our field operations. It provides the last touch for an ISP to the customer. The customer has no view of the device, but with the repeatability of the device, they do not need to.
• The ability to roll out a dynamic routing protocol attached to a security zone allows elasticity to the environment that supports growth.
• VLAN support on the inside interfaces allow this to be the only device in some smaller deployments we install these in.

Incentivized

• Only 2 free users, it would be nice if they would expand to 5.
• Easy way to establish a VPN backbone between two locations
• Great for work at home or BCP events.

Incentivized