Quick Trick: Juniper JUNOS and PaperTrail

PaperTrailApp is a handy log aggregation/search web application that offers a nice free package. You can configure your JUNOS devices to send their syslogs to PaperTrailApp as simply as doing the following: Create a PaperTrail account at https://papertrailapp.com Go to https://papertrailapp.com/systems/setup and retrieve the URL and port after "Your systems will log to" (e.g. logs1.papertrailapp.com:12345) Configure a new syslog host on your JUNOS device:…
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An Oversight in Network Hardware Vendor-specific Automation Libraries and Frameworks: Myopicity

Introduction Libraries that provide a simplified (from a programming POV) interface into the control of a device are valuable, there is no denying that; however, there are several weaknesses of current and future libraries that will need to be solved before automation can truly start achieving its full potential. I'll focus on what I call "myopicity" in this write-up. Myopicity - Single-Device Focused Below is an example of Junos PyEZ (Juniper's Python Library for interacting…
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SSH Port Forwarding

Introduction SSH Port Forwarding can be useful in instances when you don't have access to a server/service/device, but you have access to a server that has access to the desired server/service/device. Example Scenario You -> Server1 (10.0.0.1) -> DesiredWebServer(200.0.0.1) Due to firewalls, or routing, you can't reach the Desired Web Server, but you have SSH access to Server1. Using SSH Port Forwarding, you can…
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OpenFlow - What is it?

Introduction OpenFlow is nothing more than an interface into the forwarding table of a network device. By allowing external entities to program the forwarding tables of our network devices, we are allowed a level of agility that does not exist in today's networks. Is OpenFlow SDN? A common misconception about OpenFlow is that it is SDN, which isn't true. It is in the spirit of SDN, but it is not the definition of SDN. It…
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OpenStack Components

Horizon Dashboard (technically a separate entity) GUI REST API Northbound Interface Keystone Identity (Authentication / RBAC) Tracks internal OpenStack API endpoints Nova Compute (interacts with hypervisor drivers to manage compute) Neutron Network (interacts with network drivers to create overlay network; e.g. Contrail overrides this to implement L3VPN/EVPN overlays) Glance Image management Swift Object storage Cinder Block storage Ceilometer Telemetry / Analytics Heat Orchestration Templates that define the cooperation of all OpenStack components to accomplish an…
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Server Automation Platform Cheatsheet

Introduction "Cheatsheet" may not be the correct term for this, as this won't be a list of commands used in the mentioned server automation platforms, but rather a list of characteristics for each of them. This will be updated as I find more/new information. Ansible Built with Python Instruction constructs are called "Playbooks" Controls nodes through SSH No agent mechanism Chef Built with Ruby and Erlang Instruction constructs are called "Recipes" Aggregated instruction constructs…
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Your Virtual Junos Lab: Part 2 - Cloning your Junos Firefly (vSRX) and connecting it to another

Introduction In Part 1 of this series, you created and configured a vSRX, and then were able to SSH into it. In this part, you'll clone the vSRX you've created and then virtually cable the two SRXs together. To further validate our connection, we'll establish OSPF between the two vSRXs. Let's get started. Pre-requisites Part 1 of this series http://lamoni.io/setting-up-junos-firefly-vsrx-in-vmware-workstation/ Cloning our vSRX Because we're using VMware Player (which doesn't have a…
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Your Virtual Junos Lab: Part 1 - Setting up Junos Firefly (vSRX) in VMware Player

Introduction To start this series off, I'll take you through the steps of beginning your first virtual Junos lab using Junos Firefly and VMware Player. By the end of this series, you should be able to setup your own virtual topology that enables you to practice for that JNCIA, S, P, or E exam you're cramming for. The concepts you learn throughout this series should be applicable to other hypervisors. Pre-requisites VMware Player 7 (the…
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