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Configure Switches

We recommend that all switches in an organization be managed exclusively through the Juniper Mist cloud, and not from the device’s CLI.

The process of configuring a switch with Juniper Mist™ Wired Assurance involves two main steps: creating a switch configuration template and applying it to one or multiple sites. The configuration settings linked to a particular site will be applied to the switches within that site. This allows you to manage and apply consistent and standardized configurations across your network infrastructure, making the configuration process more efficient and streamlined.

For a quick overview of the switch templates, watch the following video:

Juniper Mist Wired Assurance makes day-one configurations simple yet powerful. The templates can be configured at an org level, site level, or a specific switch. Navigate to Organization and Switch Templates.

We'll use prod-template in this example. The first template configures the RADIUS and NTP servers at the org level, or for all the switches in the network. The Shared Elements configuration is shared among the switches.

This is where you can create specific IoT, corporate, or camera networks mapped to VLAN IDs. You can create port profiles for camera devices, customizing PoE settings, assigning networks, and speed negotiation. Once the configuration is set, it's time to apply the template.

Let's save this as test-rule and apply it to switches assigned with an access rule. Or you can apply the rules to particular switch models. The templates also allow you to apply port profiles to port ranges in all the switches assigned to a site.

For example, port 4 is for access points, and port 5 is for IoT devices. Now the template can be applied to a site. At primary site, you can see all the inherited configuration that we just set at a global level.

These templates are simple yet flexible, meaning that you can override the global configurations at an organization, site, or switch level. If we click into the EX2300, you see that it has inherited the config defined by the global templates. You can also choose to override template settings, changing it from 4.4.2.2 to time.google.com. This switch has also inherited all the networks, port profiles, and switch configurations.

The templates make the initial setup easy and can also adapt to specific site or switch settings as needed. You can also click into the port icons to change the configurations as needed for a single or multiple ports. Whether you configure templates and profiles for one site or thousands of sites, you can scale with consistency and commonality with ease.

To configure a switch, you need to have a Super User role assigned to you. This role grants you the necessary permissions to make changes and customize the switch settings.

To find out which switches are supported by Juniper Mist Wired Assurance, refer to Juniper Mist Supported Hardware.

Create a Switch Configuration Template

Switch configuration templates make it easy to apply the same settings to switches across your sites. Whether it's one site or multiple sites, you can use the template to quickly configure new switches. When you assign a switch to a site, it automatically adopts the configuration from the associated template.

Note:

Configuration done on the switch through the Mist dashboard overrides any configuration done through the device CLI. The switch details page doesn’t display any configuration changes you make directly on the switch through the switch CLI.

To create a switch configuration template:

  1. Open the Juniper Mist™ portal and click Organization > Switch Templates.
  2. Click Create Template, enter a name for the template in the Template Name field, and then click Create.

    The Switch Templates page appears. The selected template is identified at the top of the page.

    Note:

    If you prefer, you can import the template settings in a JSON file instead of manually entering the information. To import the settings, click Import Template. To get a JSON file with the configuration settings that can be customized and imported, open an existing configuration template of your choice and click Export. For more information, refer to Manage Templates Settings.
  3. Enter your settings in these sections:
  4. Click Save to save the switch template.
    The Confirm changes window appears.
  5. Click Save on the Confirm changes window.

    The template is saved. To view the new template, go to Organization > Switch Templates.

Assign a Template to Sites

After creating a switch configuration template, you need to assign it to the relevant sites. This ensures that the configuration settings are applied to the devices within those sites. You have the flexibility to apply the template to a single site or multiple sites, depending on your specific requirements.

To assign a template to one or multiple sites:

  1. Click Organization > Switch Templates.

    The Switch Templates page appears.

  2. Click the template that you want to assign to sites.

    The Switch Templates: Template-Name page appears.

  3. Click Assign to Sites.
    The Assign Template to Sites window appears.
  4. Select the sites to which you want to apply the template and then click Apply.

Alternatively, you can apply a template to a site from the Site Configuration page, using the following steps:

  1. Click Site > Switch Configuration.

  2. Click a site from the list to open it.

  3. Select a template from the Configuration Template field, and then click Save.

Configure Switch-Specific Settings

You need to configure certain parameters on individual switches. This can be specific to each switch and cannot be configured via the template. The switch-specific settings could include a switch name, role, management interface (out of band), and an IRB interface. You can either configure the settings manually on the individual switches, or import the settings.

Configure Switch-Specific Settings Manually

To configure additional switch-level configuration settings manually:

  1. Click Switches.
  2. From the List tab, click the switch you want to edit.
  3. Configure the switch-specific settings that include the following:

    • INFO— Configure the details on the INFO tab. The details include a hostname for the switch and the role of the switch in the network (example: Access).

    • IP Configuration (Out of Band)—The management interface settings. If you want to override these settings, select the Override Site/Template Settings check box, and then make the changes. You can specify if the IP address is static or DHCP-based. You can also enable or disable Dedicated Management VRF (out of band). For all standalone devices or Virtual Chassis running Junos version 21.4 or later, this feature confines the management interface to non-default virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instances. Management traffic no longer has to share a routing table with other control traffic or protocol traffic.

    • IP Configuration—The IRB interface settings for inter-VLAN routing. If you want to override these settings, select the Override Site/Template Settings check box, and then make the changes. You can specify if the IP address is static or DHCP-based. You can specify multiple IP addresses in the Additional IP Configuration section. Mist supports IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. The IPv6 support is available for IP address and subnet mask.

      Note:

      If the IP address specified in the Additional IP Configuration section under IP Configuration does not fall within the scope of the subnet configured in the associated network (VLAN), the IP Configuration window displays a warning message to indicate the mismatch.

    • Port Configuration—Configure switch ports and apply port profiles to them. L3 interface in Port Configuration support IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. The IPv6 support is available for IP address and subnet mask.

  4. If you want to override the template settings applied to the switch, follow these steps:
    1. Select the Override Site/Template Settings check box in relevant tiles.
    2. Edit the settings and then click Save. The changes are immediately applied to the switch.

Configure Switch-Specific Settings Using the Bulk Upload Option

If you don't want to manually configure the switch-specific settings on each switch, you can configure the settings by uploading them through a CSV file. You can upload the settings for one or more switches at once. You can upload the following settings: MAC address, serial number, switch name, switch role, router-ID, IP configuration (OOB), Primary IP (In-Band), and Default Gateway (In-Band).

To upload the switch level settings:

  1. Click Switches.
  2. From the List tab, select the switches you want to configure.

    You can select one or more switches. These switches can be in connected or disconnected state. You can select switches regardless of whether they have configuration management enabled in Mist or not. However, we recommend that you disable configuration management on the devices before you perform this configuration update, and enable it back after the switch configuration update is completed. This approach prevents any unwanted configuration overrides.

  3. Click Bulk Upload Configuration. The Bulk Upload Configurations window appears.
  4. Download a sample CSV file from the Bulk Upload Configurations window by clicking Download Device List.
    Note:

    • If you don't need a sample file, you can use your own custom configuration file directly.

    • If you want any networks or L3 interfaces/sub Interfaces configuration to be present in the sample CSV downloaded, specify those on the Bulk Upload Configurations window before downloading the file. The downloaded sample file includes fields to configure settings for the specified networks and interfaces. The network selection allows you to configure additional IP addresses on individual devices as IRB interfaces.

    • You can add only one VLAN to an L3 sub interface. Only the networks created in the switch configuration or switch template can be added to the L3 sub interface configuration.
  5. Update it with the required information in accordance with the guidelines provided in the sample sheet.
    Note:

    • All fields except Name, IP Configuration ( OOB), and Primary IP (In-Band ) are optional. The header row must be the first row in the CSV file. Don't modify the MAC addresses and the serial numbers in the CSV file.

    • If any field in the CSV file is left empty, the corresponding field on the switch configuration will be updated with a null value. This means any existing value for that field will be removed from the switch configuration.
  6. After you update the configuration file, use the Drag and Drop or Click to Upload CSV File option to upload it.

    You can use the guidelines on the Bulk Upload Configurations window to perform the upload.

  7. When you open the file to be uploaded from file upload window, the UI page loads the configuration in an editable format as shown below,
    Note:

    • If the CSV file does not contain information for some of the switches you selected, the configuration will not be pushed to those switches (the ones that are missing in the file).

    • If the CSV file contains information for switches you haven't selected, the configuration will not be pushed to those switches either.

  8. After making any further changes (if required), click Save.

    A confirmation message, indicating the number of devices updated, is displayed.

Verify the Switch Configuration

You can easily review the configuration applied to your switches and make any updates through the switch details page on the Mist portal.

To access the switch details page:

  1. On the Mist portal, click the Switches tab on the left menu to open the Switches page.

  2. On the List tab, click a switch to open the switch details page.

When the switch details page opens, you'll find yourself on the Front Panel tab. This tab gives you a comprehensive overview of the switch's port panel.

To check the configuration and status of a specific port, hover over that port in the front panel illustration. For instance, if you hover over port ge-0/0/45 in the following example, you'll see information indicating that a Mist AP is connected to that port. The displayed information also includes details about speed, power, the IP address, and more.

Click the port on the front panel illustration to see a more detailed view. From this view, you can perform tasks such as accessing the connected devices (for example, APs), viewing switch insights and editing the port configuration.

On the switch details page, you can also find information about switch events such as configuration changes in the Switch Insights section.

If you want to download the configuration in a text file, select the Download Junos Config option on the Utilities drop-down list on the switch details page.

To see the complete configuration applied to the switch, simply scroll down to the Switch Configuration section. From there, you can view and, if needed, edit the configuration elements.

If required, you can update the settings at the switch level, site level, or template level. You can also use CLI commands to configure features that the predefined drop-down lists and text fields on the Mist portal do not support. For more information on how to update the settings, refer to Manage or Update Configuration Settings.

See Also