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Juniper EX Series switches in a diverse environment
February 06, 2020

Juniper EX Series switches in a diverse environment

Craig Brady | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches

My organization currently uses Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches across the whole organization. The switches are excellent and reliable and work well in some of our environments that are not ideal for network switchgear to be deployed, such as outdoor closets and small enclosures in cabinets. The fanless option EX-2200C or EX-2300C is excellent for outdoor deployments for some of our control systems (fuel pumps, cameras). The option of having modular power supplies allows us to have some redundancy for power as well as supply ample power for the POE ports.
  • JunOS command line is easy to use.
  • Show and commit commands allow for more certainty when configuring switches.
  • J-Web web UI is not as easy to navigate as the JunOS command line.
  • Interface identifiers (GE-0/0/0, GE-0/1/0, GE-0/2/0) with ports/modules can be inconsistent from front to the back of switches.
  • The Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches have provided a life span beyond what our replacement cycle allots, which allows us to have more time to budget for replacements.
  • The initial purchase price is very competitive with other enterprise network switching companies.
Juniper EX Series Switches are more cost-effective than the others listed. The command line (JunOS) is easier to use and navigate. We are not on the hook for licensing each switch. We can choose a certain number of switches (models) from our fleet to cover for support and keep cold spares in stock due to the competitive purchase prices. Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches allows and encourages virtual chassis, which is excellent for many-core and edge deployments. JunOS CLI is consistent with other Juniper products, such as routers and firewalls.
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.

Do you think Juniper EX Series Switches delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Juniper EX Series Switches's feature set?

Yes

Did Juniper EX Series Switches live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Juniper EX Series Switches go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Juniper EX Series Switches again?

Yes

Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches pushes virtual chassis quite a bit, which is suitable for many environments that require less switch management and more access ports. However, there are many incompatibilities amongst the switch lines from Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches as far as which models can be put into a virtual chassis. This also is proprietary for Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches, meaning you cannot stack between other switch vendors. Applying a template across a fleet of new switches to deploy is rather straightforward. However, moving from non-ELS to ELS switches has been a big learning curve and has caused some frustration. It is challenging to take a backup config from a non-ELS switch and apply it to a replacement ELS switch.