Introduction

Since the dawn of networking, routing has provided administrators with the ability to configure and scale enterprise environments. Traditionally, routing has been performed by purpose-built hardware, which only performed that particular function. Recent trends have blurred the lines between a router, a switch, and even a firewall. Advancements in hardware, along with innovative software designs have enabled manufacturers to integrate many of these features into a single device. Network administrators have reaped the rewards of these advancements by creating more robust and secure networks, with less hardware.

Juniper has gone to great lengths to equip their firewalls with routing capabilities equivalent to traditional purpose-built routers. With the advent of the SSG series firewalls, which can support WAN interfaces, the need for integrated routing is even more pressing. The NetScreen and SSG series firewalls support a wide range of routing protocols, as well as multicast and IPv6 traffic. After all, proper routing architecture can lead to better performance and security, so it should come as no surprise that these functions have been integrated within a single device.

In this chapter, we will begin our routing expedition with an overview of the routing concepts conventions within the Juniper firewalls. Following that, we will get down to business with an in-depth look at the routing protocols supported by the Juniper firewalls. This discussion will include both static and dynamic routing protocols. Lastly, we will cover policy-based routing, which is a brand new feature of the Juniper firewall family. By leveraging the extended...