Cumulus attacks on Juniper (again)
I have a lot of time for Cumulus Networks – I think they’re doing some very cool and unique things with their Cumulus Linux operating system for switches and they genuinely have something different to offer, but when they publish blog posts like their one today (https://cumulusnetworks.com/blog/junipers-second-run-up-the-open-networking-mountain/) I lose a lot of respect for them.
This seems to be nothing more than a thinly veiled attack casting FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) at a competitor – a knee-jerk reaction to a threat to their business. It actually reads pretty similarly to their blog post when Juniper originally announced the OCX range (https://cumulusnetworks.com/blog/juniper/). They’ve probably attacked other vendors in a similar manner.
For example, just by going to the main QFX5200 page on the Juniper web site (http://www.juniper.net/us/en/products-services/switching/qfx-series/qfx5200/), I find:
Open access to the standard Junos Linux kernel, enabled by the disaggregated version of the Junos software, allows users to install third-party Linux RPM packages and create guest containers and VMs with central resource management and programmable APIs.
Yes that still needs a little more detail, but it answers at least some of the questions and all it took was a couple of clicks! Imagine what you could find out by actually speaking to someone familiar with the details…
I have a few questions of my own for Cumulus Networks;
- Did Cumulus Networks actually attempt to find out the answers to any of these points yourselves? If so, were you unable to find the details, or did you just not like what you found so decided to feign ignorance?
- Will Cumulus Networks put their money where their mouth is and make sure that Cumulus Linux runs on the Juniper QFX5200 series of switches (assuming that Juniper are willing to co-operate)?
- Does Cumulus Linux currently run on any switches powered by the Broadcom StrataXGS Tomahawk chipset? It doesn’t seem to be listed anywhere on the Cumulus Linux HCL that you so helpfully linked to from your blog post.
- Does Cumulus Linux currently run on any switches which support 25G, 50G or 100G Ethernet ports? These also seem to be conspicuously absent from the Cumulus Linux HCL.
- When will Cumulus Networks offer a fully featured MPLS implementation on their Cumulus Linux control plane?