Cisco Stackwise vs Juniper

[mateens]

Hi,

Trying to find an answer here juniper MC-Lag with EX9200 vs cisco stack wise with 9400 for network core redundancy.  which is the best and why ?

[chrihussey]

I did a pilot about a year ago to evaluate Juniper MC-Lag vs Cisco vPC. I found the reliability of the Juniper MC-Lag to be a concern, the documentation contradictory and lacking, and got different answers from technical support on the proper configuration. Maybe just a bad experience, but wasn't from a lack of trying. However Juniper MC-Lag operation is similar to Cisco vPC in that you have two chassis each with their control planes (supervisors) being active that appear as a single entity to the attached device.

If you want to compare apples to apples, I think Juniper Virtual Chassis would be comparable to Cisco Stackwise in that two chassis act as one with only one control plane (supervisor) being active.

Hope this helps.

[mateens]

what disadvantages do you think are there with MC-Lag on (i.e ex9200) compared to cisco stackwise virtual (on  cisco 9400) ? i want to configure redundancy at campus core with 2 switches. If you had the choice which option would you choose and why ?

[Diana Karolina Rojas]

Hello! Good afternoon,

As chrihussey said both are similar in a operational way, but you have to take in account that Stackwise Virtual will be improved, I don't know much about the Juniper solution but in Cisco's documentation you can see that Stackwise Virtual is actually equal to VSS but in the future will include some features like: programmability, application visibility, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), and much more. Reference: https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/switches/catalyst-3850-series-switches/q-and-a-c67-738577.pdf I don't know when and specifically what Cisco is going to develop over this but you can take it into consideration in order to see a difference.

Please do not forget to rate useful post.

Best regards,

[chrihussey]

Personally I prefer vPC (Cisco Nexus) or MC-LAG (Juniper) versus VSS. Simply because the first allows for two operational supervisors which I feel provides better redundancy and control. With VSS, there is an active and standby. I've worked with them briefly in the past. The technology works, but I find it limiting if work needs to be done or if problems arise. I'm sure that there are plenty of engineers that are perfectly happy with it. It's just my preference.

Regards

[mateens]

configuration for MC-Lag is complex and hard to troubleshoot compared to stackwise virtual. you guys agree ?