-vMX Notes-

References:

https://www.juniper.net/documentation/en_US/vmx/information-products/topic-collections/release-notes/18.2/jd0e109.html#jd0e117

 

Versions:

vMX is the virtual Juniper Router.

"Olive" is the original style of virtual MX router which was a single VM that ran on x86 hardware. It had low compute requirements and runs an old JunOS version (JunOS 14).

vMX is a newer style of virtual MX router which also runs on x86 compute hardware. vMX is split into two virtual machines; the Virtual control plane (VCP), which is Junos OS hosted on a virtual machine (VM) and the virtual forwarding plane (VFP) which runs the packet forwarding engine, which is the programmable Trio microcode optimized and compiled for x86 environments. vMX can make used of DPDK and/or SR-IOV to production grade throughput and performance, this is called "performance mode", or it can run in a "lite mode" which is better suited for lab testing.

In lite mode, each vMX requires approx 3 vCPUs (1 for the vCP and 2 for the vFP). Each vMX also requires a minimum of 3GBs of RAM (1GB for the vCP and 2GBs for the vFP). An additional 2GBs of RAM recommended for host OS. Note: as with newer vMX 18.2R1.9 in lite-mode, the vFP needs 3 vCPUs and 4GBs of RAM as minimum and the interface count must be keep at 12.

In performance mode, each vMX required approx 9 vCPUs (1 for the vCP and 8 for the vFP). Each vMX also requires a minimum of 5GBs of RAM (1GB for the vCP and 4GBs for the vFP) but 16 GB is recommended (4GBs for the vCP and 12GBs for vFP). An additional 2GBs of RAM recommended for host OS.

Note: All VFP vCPUs must be in the same physical non-uniform memory access (NUMA) node for optimal performance.

 

Nested vMX:

A nested version of the newer style vMX router is available. This has the vCP VM nested inside the vFP VM. In this case the vFP image is started and after it has booted it will start the vCP VM inside itself and set up a layer 2 bridge between the vCP and vFP. For more info see Nested vMX.

 

Default Login and Settings:

17.4R2.4 on EVEN-NG default login:

vFP login: root / root

vCP login: root / <blank>

 

After boot, disable auto upgrade:

delete chassis auto-image-upgrade

 

vMX Lite-Mode / Performance Mode Toggling:

Disable performance-mode if low on resources (requires a reboot):

set chassis fpc 0 lite-mode

This command can be repeated for each vFP being run (multiple vFPs can be run, as long as the em1 interface from each on is in a layer 2 bridge with the vCP VM).

 

Olive vFP Enable:

In the legacy Olive VM, the following line should be present in /boot/loader.conf by default, in order to enabled vMX to start the vfp inside the Olive virtual machine:

vm_local_rpio=”1”

Some versions of the image are missing this. In this case, set it to 1 and reboot the VM otherwise none of the forwarding plane interfaces will work.

 

vMX Enhanced IP Service:

By default vMX should start up with Enhanced IP network services already configured;

root> show chassis network-services 
Network Services Mode: Enhanced-IP

This is required for services like segment routing however, despite being enabled by default the SRBG couldn't be configured until the same command was explicitly set:

root> configure 
Entering configuration mode

[edit]
root# set chassis network-services enhanced-ip

 

vMX Licensing:

vMX defaults to a limited license mode ("triton mode"):

root@PE1# run show system license 
License usage: 
                                 Licenses     Licenses    Licenses    Expiry
  Feature name                       used    installed      needed 
  scale-subscriber                      0           10           0    permanent
  scale-l2tp                            0         1000           0    permanent
  scale-mobile-ip                       0         1000           0    permanent

Licenses installed: none

root@PE1# run show pfe statistics traffic bandwidth 
    Configured Bandwidth         : 1000000 bps
    Bandwidth                    : 1432 bps
    Average Bandwidth            : 55 bps

Juniper have a free 60-day trial license (from https://www.juniper.net/us/en/dm/free-vmx-trial/E421992502.txt):

E435890758 aeaqic aiagij cpabsc idycyi giydco bqgiyd
           sdapoz gvqlkk ovxgs4 dfojcx mylma4 uhfs7p
           etdlfc ex2i5k 4mo4fa ew2xbz ujzbol 4fl44z
           ya3md2 drdgjf preowc 5ubrju kyq

root@PE1# run request system license add terminal    
[Type ^D at a new line to end input,
 enter blank line between each license key]
E435890758 aeaqic aiagij cpabsc idycyi giydco bqgiyd
sdapoz gvqlkk ovxgs4 dfojcx mylma4 uhfs7p
etdlfc ex2i5k 4mo4fa ew2xbz ujzbol 4fl44z
ya3md2 drdgjf preowc 5ubrju kyq

E435890758: successfully added
add license complete (no errors)


root@PE1# run show system license 
License usage: 
                                 Licenses     Licenses    Licenses    Expiry
  Feature name                       used    installed      needed 
  scale-subscriber                      0           10           0    permanent
  scale-l2tp                            0         1000           0    permanent
  scale-mobile-ip                       0         1000           0    permanent
  VMX-BANDWIDTH                         0       500000           0    59 days
  VMX-SCALE                             3            3           0    59 days
  vmx-subscriber-accounting             0            1           0    60 days
  vmx-subscriber-authentication         0            1           0    60 days
  vmx-subscriber-address-assignment        0         1           0    60 days
  vmx-service-dc                        0            1           0    60 days
  vmx-service-accounting                0            1           0    60 days
  vmx-subscriber-secure-policy          0            1           0    60 days
  vmx-pcrf-subscriber-provisioning        0          1           0    60 days
  vmx-ocs-charging                      0            1           0    60 days
  vmx-nasreq-auth-authorization         0            1           0    60 days
  vmx-service-qos                       0            1           0    60 days
  vmx-service-ancp                      0            1           0    60 days
  vmx-service-cbsp                      0            1           0    60 days

Licenses installed: 
  License identifier: E435890758
  License version: 4                    
  Software Serial Number: 20180209
  Customer ID: vMX-JuniperEval
  Features:
    vmx-bandwidth-500g - vmx-bandwidth-500g
      count-down, Original validity: 60 days
    vmx-feature-premium - vmx-feature-premium
      count-down, Original validity: 60 days

root@PE1# run show pfe statistics traffic bandwidth 
    Configured Bandwidth         : 500000000000 bps
    Bandwidth                    : 892 bps
    Average Bandwidth            : 55 bps

 

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