Juniper MX Series

Summary

If this is your first time with advanced bridging, take a look at the chapter review questions and see how well you do. If your results are mediocre, it may be beneficial to go back and reread this chapter again, as the advanced bridging features and concepts are tightly integrated. As you reread the chapter with this core knowledge behind your belt, you will have a new perspective and understanding and be able to grok advanced bridging.

The chapter started with the basics: Ethernet. Sometimes you take the basics for granted, don’t review them for several years, and the details become fuzzy. It’s important to fully understand Ethernet frame formats, including IEEE 802.1Q and IEEE 802.1QinQ, before moving into advanced bridging.

Next the chapter took a step back and pulled back the covers of the Junos interface hierarchy and introduced terms such as IFD, IFL, and IFF that are typically reserved for Juniper engineer employees. The Junos interface hierarchy is critical to fully understanding how advanced bridging on the MX works.

Giving a brief overview of the Enterprise Style versus Service Provider Style should give the reader a glimpse into the flexibility of the MX—it caters to all types of customers and networks. The Enterprise Style gives you the ability to write simple configurations to perform basic bridging, while the Service Provider Style takes bridging to another level and introduces VLAN mapping.

To firm up all your understanding of bridging, the chapter took a deep ...