{"id":2080,"date":"2022-11-04T11:18:44","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T10:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nesevo.com\/?p=2080"},"modified":"2026-05-06T07:47:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T05:47:49","slug":"juniper-mx204-upgrade-pfad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nesevo.com\/de\/blog\/juniper-mx204-upgrade-path\/","title":{"rendered":"Juniper MX204 Upgrade-Pfad"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

The Strength<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Released in late 2017 and now end-of-life only five short years later, the Juniper MX204<\/a> has been a favourite of the MX lineup. As Juniper made lateral moves from the MX80 to the MX104, the MX204 was a huge shift in design to provide larger memory and built in 100G QSFP28 ports. With news of the official 12\/15\/2023 last order date, many Juniper devotees are left wondering why the sudden discontinuation, and what does the upgrade or replacement path look like from here.<\/p>\n

At the time of the MX204 (now MX204-HW-BASE) release, Juniper\u2019s MX lineup was focused on the larger chassis-based solutions with the MX240, MX480 and MX960, augmented by smaller units such as the MX80-AC, down to the MX5-T-AC. In the mid 2010\u2019s as network architects adjusted to the changing landscape in datacenter space, power, and cooling options, Juniper\u2019s lineup appeared to be lacking in the small to mid-sized routing options when compared to other vendors like Nokia<\/a> (7750 SR-1) or Arista<\/a> (DCS-7280SR-48C6-R).<\/p>\n

Juniper answered the call with the MX204, a 1U, dual powered, 32G memory, fixed configuration router with up to 400Gbps throughput via 4x100G QSFP28 and 8x10G SFP+ interfaces. In order to replace the aging 10G SFP+ and XFP based MX80, the comparatively affordable MX204 brought 100G to the edge by touting the benefits of Juniper\u2019s highly capable in-house Trio 4 silicon.<\/p>\n

Small to mid-sized ISPs and carriers deployed the MX204 as a customer edge box; the powerful \u201cstarter kit\u201d fit perfectly for smaller point of presence builds in a \u201cCPE\u201d type role, as well as a small aggregation device for sub-10G consumers when used alongside QFX5100, EX4300, or EX3300 switches. With the rich MX and Junos feature set provided by the Trio 4, small footprint, low cost and low power consumption, the MX204 represented an affordable cost entry point to 100G. As the popular MX204 fit the bill perfectly for the small to mid-sized router niche, end-users and vendors alike were surprised by Juniper\u2019s end of life announcement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nJuniper MX80-AC<\/strong><\/td>\nJuniper MX204-AC<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Physical Size<\/strong><\/td>\n2RU<\/td>\n1RU<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Max Throughput<\/strong><\/td>\n80Gbps<\/td>\n400Gbps<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RIB\/FIB IPv4 Only<\/strong><\/td>\n1M FIB, up to 4M RIB<\/td>\n5M FIB, up to 16M RIB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CPU<\/strong><\/td>\n1 core ARM, 32 bit<\/td>\n8 core Intel, 64 bit<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Memory<\/strong><\/td>\n2G<\/td>\n32G<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Power Consumption<\/strong><\/td>\n320W (4W\/Gbps)<\/td>\n240W (1.6W\/Gbps)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Problem<\/strong><\/h3>\n

To create the potent MX204, Juniper opted to employ the same silicone found in its dense 100G line-cards like the MPC7E-MRATE in order to achieve the high performance and throughput necessary for lightning fast packet pipelines, deep buffers, and high performance lookup tables used in routing and switching. Juniper utilized Micron\u2019s HMC (Hybrid Memory Cube) memory paired with the Trio 4 chipset to achieve this level of performance.<\/p>\n

At the time of development, HMC was the highest performance memory available on the market. In a change of plans in 2018, Micron announced that they would discontinue the HMC product in favor of a competing high-throughput memory technology known as HBM (High Bandwidth Memory). Juniper attempted to secure stock and lock in deliveries of future HCM product to ensure the production of its Trio 4 based lineup for several more years, however, supply chain limitations were eventually exacerbated by the Covid 19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

As production lessened, Micron was unable to meet Juniper\u2019s chip demand, and the end was clear for any Trio 4 based solutions relying on HMC.\u00a0 Juniper\u2019s hand was forced to quickly reroute into products now employing a new-generation of Trio 5 and Trio 6 chipsets.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Solution<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Juniper has announced several replacement alternatives for the MX204, and depending on the exact use case, the alternative may not be a clear-cut choice. The proposed direct replacement for the MX204 is the Trio 6 based MX304-BASE, a significantly larger and more capable 2U, modular box that provides dual routing engines (JNP304-RE) and up to 4.8Tbps of throughput via the MX304-LMIC16-BASE line card that allows for up to 48x100G QSFP-DD breakout or 12x400G QSFP-DD (ETA, available Q4 2022). As the MX204 once leap-frogged the MX80, the MX304-BASE provides customers a perfect fit\u00a0 and logical upgrade path for years of bandwidth increases and additional network demands.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, for networks building out micro-footprint, low cost points of presence with only one or two anchor customers, the added entry cost of the MX304-BASE (roughly 3 x the MX204-AC) may be a hard pill to swallow, no matter the savings on price per 100G port. Juniper provides a short list of alternatives beyond the MX304, but in reality it is clear that there is no direct one-to-one replacement for the MX204:<\/p>\n