Juniper offers an amazing platform that gives you the ability to learn the Junos CLI without having to spend hundreds of dollars on a single device.

The Junos Firefly is a Virtual SRX platform that runs on the VMWare hyper-visor that provides the same functionality as hardware devices. The vSRX supports up to 8 interfaces and can be used in place of a hardware device however performance will be directly related to the performance of your virtual infrastructure.

However when it comes to education and learning Junos, this platform makes a perfect cost effective solution to get your hands wet.

You can build a small lab using the vSRX with 5 devices on VMWware Workstation and learn the basics of Junos. The vSRX supports all features that are covered on the JNCIA and JNCIS-ENT blueprints from RIP, OSPF, Static Routing, Firewall Policies, NAT and more.

The vSRX however has limited support for switching so with this in mind it cannot replace the Juniper EX Series switch line.

This website will be designed around the vSRX and 3x hardware Juniper EX-3200-24T Series switches. The switches will be used in the switching section to demonstrate spanning tree, trunking, vlan configuration and other general managed switch configurations.