ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
Antonio "Ato" Sanchez Monge (JNCIE-M #222 and CCIE #13098) holds a MS in Physics and a BA in Mathematics from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM). He joined HP in 1999 to specialize in networking support, then moved to Juniper Networks in 2004, where he is currently working on the Professional Services team. During the last decade, Ato has been involved in a myriad projects for different ISPs across Europe.
What got you started on this book?
When the MBGP Multicast VPN technology was first released in Junos back in 2007, I needed to explain the solution in depth to one of our customers. But how could I explain something that I was not familiar with? It took me several weeks to read all the IETF specifications, Junos documentation and design tips, as well as intense hands-on practice sessions to get the necessary expertise. I would have loved at the time to have one book that explains it from scratch, guiding me in the learning process with a practical focus. Then in 2009 my colleague Anton Bernal first talked to me about the Day One series and I was delighted to read and practice with a few books by Curtis Call, now integrated into ³This Week: Applying Junos Automation². I like Curtis´ book since it tells you exactly what you need to know in order to understand others´ scripts and to write your own ones. So I thought that I could try the same thing for a completely different topic:
Multicast VPN. This initiative was welcome by Patrick Ames and Cathy Gadecki from Juniper Networks Books. And that¹s how it all started.
This book is written for anyone willing to learn about Multi-Protocol BGP Multicast VPN, either from scratch or with some previous knowledge. It contains introductory chapters to refresh IP Multicast and MPLS VPNs concepts, so you don¹t need to be an expert in these technologies to follow successfully. Due to its practical focus, you will need some basic Junos CLI skills (covered by the Day One ³Junos Fundamentals Series²) to take full advantage of the book. Although it is highly recommended to have a lab setup to do the hands-on steps, the relevant commands and output are displayed in each section, which makes the book self-contained and readable even without a test scenario.
After reading this book, what's the take away?
Multicast VPN is a rich technology with a number of deployment options. In order to choose the right design approach for given service requirements, it is key to have a solid understanding of the feature set. In this book I try to explain in detail what the main flavors have in common, as well as their differences, pros and cons. The focus is on ³how² the MBGP MVPN solution works, ³how² to configure it and ³how² to verify it is working. If you are planning to design, deploy and operate a MBGP MVPN network, or simply need to know what this technology is all about, this book will help you to achieve these goals.
What are you hoping that people will learn from this book?
I wrote it to help others to become fluent in the MBGP MVPN technology by being able to explain in detail how it works, both in a whiteboard and by following the route exchanges directly in a Junos router. The goal is to lead MVPN beginners into a comprehensive overview of the tecnology, while allowing the more initiated readers to learn details and clarify concepts.
What do you recommend as the next item to read after this book?
Check existing books in the "Day One" website! I also suggest to read the last edition of the "MPLS-Enabled Applications" book from Ina Minei and Julian Lucek, which provides a thorough and modern overview of the MPLS technologies, including MBGP MVPN. There is also a book of recent publication that covers Multicast VPN in depth: "Deploying Next Generation Multicast-enabled Applications", co-authored by Vinod Joseph.
I like listening (or reading) to people who really intend to transfer knowledge, rather than just stating facts. While writing this book I tried to make things easier for the reader than they were for myself. In that sense, I would like to keep the book evolving based on feedack from readers.Several people have already read it and influenced the content, mainly the editor (Patrick Ames) and the technical & content reviewers (Julian Lucek, Miguel Barreiros and Efraín González).
What's your favorite bit/part in the book?
One of the things that I like the most about MBGP MVPN is the degree at which control plane is decoupled from the forwarding plane. One example (covered in Chapter 3) is Shortest Path Tree switchover: in a classical IP Multicast this process is mainly data driven, while in MBGP MVPN it is completely dictated by the control plane. In general, it is quite impressive how many MBGP MVPN lab tests can be done with no traffic.
