Junos OS Routing Engine Components and Processes
The Junos OS runs on the Routing Engine. The Junos OS consists of software processes that support Internet routing protocols, control router interfaces and the router chassis, and enable router system management. The Junos OS processes run on top of a kernel, which enables communication between processes and provides a direct link to the Packet Forwarding Engine software. The Junos OS can be used to configure routing protocols and router interface properties, as well as to monitor and troubleshoot protocol and network connectivity problems.
The Routing Engine software consists of several software processes that control router functionality and a kernel that provides the communication among all the processes:
Routing Engine Kernel
The Routing Engine kernel provides the underlying infrastructure for all Junos OS processes. In addition, it provides the link between the routing tables and the Routing Engine’s forwarding table. It is also responsible for all communication with the Packet Forwarding Engine, which includes keeping the Packet Forwarding Engine’s copy of the forwarding table synchronized with the master copy in the Routing Engine.
Initialization Process
Within the Junos OS, an initialization process (init) starts and monitors all the other software processes when the router boots.
If a software process terminates or fails to start when called, the init process attempts to restart it a limited number of times and logs any failure information for further investigation.
Management Process
The management process (mgd) manages the configuration of the router and all user commands. The management process is responsible for notifying other processes when a new configuration is committed. A dedicated management process handles Junos XML protocol XML requests from its client, which may be the command-line interface (CLI) or any Junos XML protocol client.
Process Limits
There are limits to the total number of Junos OS processes that can run simultaneously on a system. There are also limits set for the maximum number of iterations of any single process. The limit for iterations of any single process can only be reached if the limit of overall system processes is not exceeded.
Access methods such as telnet and SSH spawn multiple system processes for each session created. For this reason, it might not be possible to simultaneously support the maximum number of access sessions for multiple services.
Routing Protocol Process
Within the Junos OS, the routing protocol process (rpd) controls the routing protocols that run on the router. The rpd process starts all configured routing protocols and handles all routing messages. It maintains one or more routing tables, which consolidate the routing information learned from all routing protocols. From this routing information, the routing protocol process determines the active routes to network destinations and installs these routes into the Routing Engine’s forwarding table. Finally, it implements routing policy, which enables you to control the routing information that is transferred between the routing protocols and the routing table. Using routing policy, you can filter and limit the transfer of information as well as set properties associated with specific routes.
Interface Process
The Junos interface process enables you to configure and control the physical interface devices and logical interfaces present in a router. You can configure interface properties such as the interface location (which slot the Flexible PIC Concentrator [FPC] is installed in and which location on the FPC the Physical Interface Card [PIC] is installed in), the interface encapsulation, and interface-specific properties. You can configure the interfaces currently present in the router, as well as interfaces that are not present but that you might add later.
The Junos interface process communicates through the Junos kernel with the interface process in the Packet Forwarding Engine, enabling the Junos OS to track the status and condition of the router’s interfaces.
Chassis Process
The Junos chassis process enables you to configure and control the properties of the router, including conditions that trigger alarms. The chassis process (chassisd) on the Routing Engine communicates directly with its peer processes running on the Packet Forwarding Engine.
SNMP and MIB II Processes
The Junos OS supports the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), which helps administrators monitor the state of a router. The software supports SNMP version 1 (SNMPv1), version 2 (SNMPv2, also known as version 2c, or v2c), and version 3 (SNMPv3). The Junos implementation of SNMP does not include any of the security features that were originally included in the IETF SNMP drafts but were later dropped. The SNMP software is controlled by the Junos SNMP and Management Information Base II (MIB II) processes, which consist of an SNMP master agent and various subagents.
