AW: [j-nsp] How to pick JUNOS Version

[Christian Scholz]

If you face issues, you have JTAC, ATAC, and Engineering - and also a local SE.
I would never wait and "hope" that a fix will be out there because it has been reported, "by someone else."
Observe, Pinpoint, Report and if needed Escalate - works very good with Juniper and they help you; unlike other vendors who "build bridges" and tell you to deploy your software while Saturn is in line with Mars and while offering a goat as a token of appreciation at the same time 😉
If there is a nasty issue that is not fixed in any release, Engineering provides "Special Customer Releases" to have a fix for your particular environment and issue to help you.
Therefore if you report the Bug, you might not have a fix tomorrow, but in the next 2-3 months.
And if it takes longer, there's an "escalate this case" button that works very well - I never had to wait longer than six weeks for a particular fix after it had been confirmed. Your local SE can also assist you if you have trouble.


Back to the topic:
If you start fresh, follow the "JTAC versions to consider" (as stated earlier, it's no longer called recommended for various reasons) and ask your local SE - that's the "official" way. 
In 9/10 Cases, this is an excellent version to start with if you have no idea where to start at all.
If you need a specific feature that's not yet in the "version to consider," or there's a bug in this version affecting you, your local SE can tell you what to do and what version to try.
This way, you get a working version or the correct pointers on what to do to get the right version.

Tom's approach is also an excellent idea - the important part is that you test everything for your environment yourself before deploying it to prod. Most of the time, "shit hits the fan" because folks don't check appropriately for themselves or have no testing environment at all because "it's expensive."
In my personal opinion, it's not the vendor's responsibility to test every customer topology in existence with every tiny feature.
It's your job at the end of the day to make sure that you deploy code that works. 
The vendor can assist you as best as possible, but it's simply not possible for them to test EVERY scenario out there.
Again: Observe, Pinpoint, Report.

Yes - there are often multiple bugs involved, and yes it can be a "Minesweeper Game" to find the one that has "everything" fixed (however, such thing does not exist per definition because humans are not perfect) - but it's not as complicated as with other vendors with 27.000 Releases and Sub-Releases out there that have to be "qualified" in order to get support 😉

Just my 2ct

-- Christian






-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: juniper-nsp <juniper-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net> Im Auftrag von Alexandre Guimaraes
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 20. August 2020 15:34
An: Tom Beecher <beecher at beecher.cc>; Colton Conor <colton.conor at gmail.com>
Cc: Juniper List <juniper-nsp at puck.nether.net>
Betreff: Re: [j-nsp] How to pick JUNOS Version

The best answer ever!

Go to Vegas, in a Cassino, play some roulette.  Wait for a number between 10 and 20, if black, normal Junos, if red, SR Junos...  if you lose all money before get a code similar a release, follow Tom Beecher schemas.

IT'S A LOTTERY to pick a junos release..... 

One of my case
I have deployed some QFX5120 32C and 48Y units a year ago, exactly Aug/2019, until today, those units are offline and waiting a code that’s fix RSVP/ISIS/MPLS signalization.... until there, wasted money, etc....



Em 19/08/2020 13:32, "juniper-nsp em nome de Tom Beecher" <juniper-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net em nome de beecher at beecher.cc> escreveu:

    Start with the highest code version supported on the hardware that has all
    the features you need.
    Subtract 2 from the major revision number.
    Pick a .3 version of that major revision.
    Work towards current from there depending on test results, security needs,
    etc.

    On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 10:47 AM Colton Conor <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__colton.conor-40gmail.com&d=DwICAg&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=d3qAF5t8mugacLDeGpoAguKDWyMVANad_HfrWBCDH1s&m=a6BNdZOtIAqYpPvwVFnIF4E-D-PQw3QGn-NmT5hFQag&s=vCQMfrWksdsBnD7JU0aeeHZARhmdT9KC6Caf59B_xgc&e=>
    wrote:

    > How do you plan which JUNOS version to deploy on your network? Do you stick
    > to the KB21476 - JTAC Recommended Junos Software Versions or go a different
    > route? Some of the JTAC recommended code seems to be very dated, but that
    > is probably by design for stability.
    >
    > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__kb.juniper.net_InfoCenter_index-3Fpage-3Dcontent-26id-3DKB21476-26actp-3DMETADATA&d=DwICAg&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=d3qAF5t8mugacLDeGpoAguKDWyMVANad_HfrWBCDH1s&m=a6BNdZOtIAqYpPvwVFnIF4E-D-PQw3QGn-NmT5hFQag&s=CQxemDO4grDS8J_BXAGPC3akSwvKhy2DBPt6JlKN3nI&e=
    >
    > Just wondering if JUNOS will ever go to a unified code model like Arista
    > does? The amount of PR's and bug issues in JUNOS seems overwhelming. Is
    > this standard across vendors? I am impressed that Juniper takes the times
    > to keep track of all these issues, but I am unimpressed that there are this
    > many bugs.
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