INTEROPERABILITY OF JUNIPER AND

CISCO DEVICES
The interoperability of Juniper and Cisco allows the
equipment from different vendors to work consistently.
This work includes many tasks such as network designing,
choice of IP network, simultaneous working of devices and
their configurations.
On the Juniper devices, RSTP is enabled on all Ethernet
switching enabled ports by default, whereas, Cisco
switches stick to PVST+.
The Cisco switches send out various types of BPDUs with
which Juniper devices (switches) interact.
EX-series switches will process the IEEE STP BPDU
whereas PVST+ BPDU is a proprietary protocol and
advertises to Cisco's reserved multicasts address.
The EX series switches will treat it as any other multicasts
packet and flood it on all forwarding ports within the VLAN
in which the respective BPDUs are received.
By default, the path cost assigned by PVST+ is based on
Cisco's STP cost convention, not the IEEE STP cost.
Therefore, the path cost needs to be changed so that it
complies with IEEE STP path cost.
On the Cisco devices, the command "spanning-tree
pathcost method long" must be entered to make it
compliant with IEEE STP path cost. This command will be
applied to all Cisco switch ports.
Further, Juniper and Cisco needs the configuration for
simultaneous working which is shown below:
1. Juniper Configuration
In this example, the inter-switch ports use link aggregation
and VLAN trunking. Both steps are optional; if desired,
physical switch ports can instead be configured for Ethernet
switching.
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 These steps define two VLANs; again, this is optional:

admin@EX9208> configure
admin@EX9208# set vlans v2001 vlan-id 2001
admin@EX9208# set vlans v2002 vlan-id 2002
These steps create link aggregation groups ae1 to the Cisco
Catalyst 3850 and ae2 to the Cisco Nexus 7010:
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae1 aggregatedether-options lacp active
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae1 description
"linkagg to 3850" admin@EX9208# set interfaces
ae2 aggregated-ether-options lacp active
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae2 description
linkagg to 7010"
These steps create link aggregation groups ae1 to the Cisco
Catalyst 3850 and ae2 to the Cisco Nexus 7010:
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae1 aggregatedether-options lacp active
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae1 description
"linkagg to 3850"
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae2 aggregatedether-options lacp active
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae2 description
linkagg to 7010

These steps configure the newly created ae interfaces as

Ethernet switching and VLAN trunk ports:
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae1 unit 0 family
ethernet-switching interface-mode trunk
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae1 unit 0 family
ethernet-switching vlan members v2001
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae1 unit 0 family
ethernet-switching vlan members v2002
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae2 unit 0 family
ethernet-switching interface-mode trunk7
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admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae2 unit 0 family

ethernet-switching vlan members v2001
admin@EX9208# set interfaces ae2 unit 0 family
ethernet-switching vlan members v2002
These steps assign physical ports to membership in the link
aggregation groups:
admin@EX9208# set interfaces xe-5/3/1 etheroptions 802.3ad ae1
admin@EX9208# set interfaces xe-5/3/1
description "ae1 linkagg to 3850"
admin@EX9208# set interfaces xe-12/3/0 etheroptions 802.3ad ae1
admin@EX9208# set interfaces xe-12/3/0
description "ae1 linkagg to 3850"
admin@EX9208# set interfaces xe-5/0/5 etheroptions 802.3ad ae2
admin@EX9208# set interfaces xe-5/0/5
description "ae2 linkagg to 7010"
admin@EX9208# set interfaces xe-12/0/5 etheroptions 802.3ad ae2
admin@EX9208# set interfaces xe-12/0/5
description "ae2 linkagg to 7010"
The spanning tree protocol must be either disabled on all
switches, or disabled on all switches. This command will
enable rapid spanning tree on a Juniper EX Series switch:
admin@EX9208# set protocols rstp
admin@EX9208# commit
To disable rapid spanning tree on a Juniper EX Series switch:
admin@EX9208# set protocols rstp disable
admin@EX9208# commit

2. Cisco Configuration
Since CDP is enabled by default on Cisco devices, no
additional configuration is needed. The steps given here are
to define link aggregation and VLAN trunking, but both are
optional for purposes of validating CDP passthrough.
On the Catalyst 3850, CDP and rapid spanning tree (called
Rapid PVST-Plus in Cisco documentation) will be enabled. All
that remains is to (optionally) define a link aggregation
group and VLAN trunking.
These commands will create two VLANs:
Cat3850# configure terminal
Cat3850(config)# vlan 2001-2002
Cat3850(config-vlan)# exit
These steps will create a link aggregation group (called a
Port-channel in Cisco parlance) and configure it for VLAN
trunking:
Cat3850(config)# interface Port-channel1
Cat3850(config-if)# description to EX9200
Cat3850(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan
2001-2002
Cat3850(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
Cat3850(config-if)# exit
These steps assign physical ports to membership in the link
aggregation groups:
Cat3850(config)# interface TenGigabitEthernet1/1/3
Cat3850(config-if)# description po1 to 9200
Cat3850(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan
2001-2002
Cat3850(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
Cat3850(config-if)# channel-group 1 mode passive
Cat3850(config)# interface TenGigabitEthernet1/1/4
Cat3850(config-if)# description po1 to 9200
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Cat3850(config-if)#
2001-2002
Cat3850(config-if)#
Cat3850(config-if)#
Cat3850(config-if)#

switchport trunk allowed vlan

switchport mode trunk
channel-group 1 mode passive
end

Some general commands that can be compared between

Juniper and Cisco devices are also mentioned:

JUNIPER CABABILITIES
The capabilities of Juniper Networks can be understood within a
framework of three phases described below.

1.

Plan Phase

Juniper Networks enables to design the ideal network that

would help the business compete and win.
This helps to assess current environment and develop a
roadmap for creating a network that satisfies the business
and technology requirements.
Development of the high-level architectural design as well as
low-level detailed design of network devices, configurations,
and interconnections.
Project planning, detailing of responsibilities, timelines, and
dependencies.

2. Build Phase
This phase focuses on network testing, deployment, and
migration with the aim to deploy a fast, secure network
quickly.
Experienced consultants using proven processes and
technologies validate the proposed solution which satisfies
the requirements by creating and testing an environment.

Accelerating building and deployment processes reduce the

time to get business value from new network design
minimizing deployment risk while maximizing performance.

Juniper Networks helps customers migrate from one platform

to another, including integration into a multivendor
environment.
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3. Run Phase
Run phase helps to protect and keep the network optimized
by making it automated.
These automation capabilities include:
i.

Save time and money by smooth operation of day-to-day

processes.

ii.

Focus on high value activities.

iii.

Minimizing risk and improving productivity.

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