Day One: MACsec Up and Running

Encrypt traffic between devices such as your EX, QFX, PTX, and MX Series platforms with MACsec.


While MACsec is a relatively new technology, Juniper has invested in it heavily by integrating MACsec encryption in its core ASICs and making the technology available on a wide variety of MX, PTX, QFX and EX Series platforms. With Day One: MACsec Up and Running, you can discover which platforms and hardware combinations support different types of MACsec and you’ll be able to get up and running within a matter of hours in a basic lab setting. Learn how to configure MACsec on Juniper equipment, verify that it is working, and troubleshoot existing configurations. The technology is relatively simple so little prior knowledge is needed to strengthen and secure your network environment.


“This book is very timely because Juniper has fully committed to MACsec technology to enable the confidentiality and integrity of our customers’ data. We have now implemented full line-rate MACsec encryption engines on most of our home grown ASICs and MACsec will soon be available on a majority of our products.” -  Santhosh Somasekharan Nair, Senior Engineer, MACsec Software Lead, Juniper Networks



IT’S DAY ONE AND YOU HAVE A JOB TO DO, SO LEARN HOW TO:

• Understand at a very high level where MACsec is used and how MACsec is different from other security protocols.

• Understand which Juniper Networks devices support MACsec and select the Junos OS software version to suit your MACsec needs.

• Configure MACsec on an interface between two directly connected Juniper Networks devices that support MACsec.

• Learn about Static PSK mode and PSK Keychains.

• Avoid common pitfalls when interoperating MACsec between devices from different vendors.

• Configure MACsec connectivity over a WAN and potential issues.

• Monitor the statistics of MACsec packets and sessions.


About the Authors

Chris Hellberg is a Systems Engineer at Juniper Networks focusing on financial services customers. He was previously a Professional Services consultant in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the United States. He holds an MBA and a Masters in Advanced Finance.


Pradeep Chalicheemala is a Product Manager for Cloud Customer Segment at Juniper Networks. Before his current role, Pradeep held ASIC design engineering roles at Juniper and Brocade. He holds an MBA degree from UC Berkeley. Pradeep also holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in Engineering.