Introduction to Juniper Cloud-Native Router
Juniper Cloud-Native Router (JCNR) is a containerized router designed to meet the evolving demands of 5G networks and cloud-native infrastructures. It offers flexibility, reduced CapEx and OpEx, and advanced routing capabilities.
The JCNR integrates Juniper's proven routing technology with the Junos containerized routing protocol daemon (cRPD) and a high-performance Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) or extended Berkley Packet Filter (eBPF) eXpress Data Path (XDP) datapath. It operates seamlessly within a Kubernetes environment, interacting with container network interfaces (CNI).
Key Features and Architecture
The JCNR architecture comprises:
- Control Plane: Junos containerized routing protocol Daemon (cRPD) for topology discovery, route advertisement, and FIB programming.
- Forwarding Plane: DPDK or eBPF XDP datapath enabled vRouter for efficient packet forwarding.
- CNI: A Kubernetes-native component for creating pod interfaces, assigning addresses, and generating router configurations.
Key features include easy deployment via Helm, high packet forwarding performance, comprehensive routing and switching stacks, out-of-the-box O-RAN support, scalability, and support for various L2 and L3 functionalities.
Deployment Platforms
Juniper Cloud-Native Router 25.2 supports deployment on a wide range of platforms:
- Baremetal Servers
- Red Hat OpenShift
- Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)
- Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- Wind River Cloud Platform
- VMware Tanzu
- Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform
Use Cases
The JCNR addresses critical use cases, including:
- Radio Access Network (RAN): Optimizing deployments for 5G C-RAN and D-RAN topologies, addressing constraints of limited space, power, and cooling.
- Telco Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): Providing advanced routing capabilities for 5G data centers in cloud hyperscalers, supporting features like MPLS, QoS, and L3 VPN.
Management and Troubleshooting
The guide also covers essential management tasks such as software upgrades, license management, CPU allocation, and control plane policing. Troubleshooting sections provide guidance on common issues and validation procedures.
For detailed installation and configuration steps for each platform, refer to the respective sections within this document.
