Junos Security

Chapter 1. Introduction to the SRX

Firewalls are a staple of almost every network in the world. The firewall protects nearly every network-based transaction that occurs, and even the end user understands its metaphoric name, meant to imply keeping out the bad stuff. But firewalls have had to change. Whether it’s the growth of networks or the growth of network usage, they have had to move beyond the simple devices that only require protection from inbound connections. A firewall now has to transcend its own title, the one end users are so familiar with, into a whole new type of device and service. This new class of device is a services gateway. And it needs to provide much more than just a firewall—it needs to look deeper into the packet and use the contained data in new ways that are advantageous to the network for which it is deployed. Can you tell if an egg is good or not by just looking at its shell? And once you break it open, isn’t it best to use all of its contents? Deep inspection from a services gateway is the new firewall of the future.

Deep inspection isn’t a new concept, nor is it something that Juniper Networks invented. What Juniper did do, however, is start from the ground up to solve the technical problems of peering deeply. With the Juniper Networks SRX Series Services Gateways, Juniper built a new platform to answer today’s problems while scaling the platform’s features to solve the anticipated problems of tomorrow. It’s a huge challenge, especially with the rapid ...