Juniper Networks: Paragon Pathfinder Review

A leading network traffic engineering solution in the network automation market is Paragon Pathfinder by Juniper Networks. 

A significant challenge for enterprises is to deploy network services rapidly at reduced CapEX and OpEx. Yet, an increase in traffic demand leads to service degradation and network failure issues. And as network applications and their environments are dynamic, their performance requirements vary with time. Companies are seeking flexible solutions to optimize their network framework through effective traffic engineering solutions.

Paragon Pathfinder kahelps optimize network architecture and ensures predictable, resilient, and service-level guarantees. Paragon Pathfinder can also spot potential issues in the network, and before customers experience degradation in the service, it remediates them automatically. It helps with better network visibility and control as well as with improved end-user experience.

See below to learn all about Juniper’s Paragon Pathfinder and where it stands in the network automation sector:

Juniper Networks and the Network Automation Market

About 80% of network failures are due to human errors, according to the 2021 “Network Automation Market Report.” For delivering top experiences, network automation is essential. Companies cannot depend on manual or semi-automated network management, as the risk of network failure is increasingly high. Besides, as the traffic patterns change frequently, they also require real-time configuration changes.

Other associated issues are: failed service deliveries; costly outages; lengthy repairs; and delayed service activation.

Implementing network automation can address these issues and promise faster, more agile, and more efficient service delivery at optimized costs. It also raises IT productivity by standardizing processes and streamlining network changes.

As a result, more organizations are turning to network automation solutions. The 2022 “Network Automation Statistics” says that by 2027, the global network automation market size will reach $22.58 billion.

In the sector, Juniper Networks has been developing solutions for transforming network experiences to maximize user efficiency and operational performance. These efforts have, for instance, led Juniper Networks to be named a leader in the Gartner “Magic Quadrant” for indoor location services in 2022.

Juniper Network Paragon Portfolio

Juniper Networks’ Paragon automation solutions help businesses optimize their network operations and deliver a sound service experience. The solutions have been built for 5G and multicloud environments with a focus on quality network service. There are five products included in the suite:

• Paragon Planner: for network planning, modeling, and simulation
• Paragon Insights: for real-time data analytics and network visualization
• Paragon Pathfinder: for simplified traffic engineering solutions
• Paragon Active Assurance: for verifying network performance and validating services configuration
• Anuta ATOM Network Automation Platform: for network and services configuration and compliance management

Paragon Pathfinder is an essential component of the Paragon automation solution that can proactively plan and monitor large traffic loads through closed-loop automation.

Paragon Pathfinder Features

Paragon Pathfinder is a software-defined networking (SDN) controller that helps businesses to orchestrate network functions for flawless operations, acting as an interface between the network infrastructure and the organization. It uses a centralized control pane for improved network management. MPLS/RSVP capabilities, network slicing, or segment routing can be implemented for mapping traffic flows onto an existing physical topology.

Segment routing is an effective solution to simplify traffic engineering and management across diverse network domains, as it relies on a source-based routing architecture that can remove state information from network nodes and transit routers. As a result, the network design gets simplified.

Paragon Pathfinder also helps centralize path communication for effective network implementation and operations. It can identify potential issues associated with the network and receive real-time performance monitoring through Junos Telemetry Interface. It then streams data to a performance management system to measure link and node utilization trends. It can also troubleshoot network congestion issues.

Its other key features also include:

• Provides network optimization with path computation algorithms
• Offers an intelligent interface between SR-enabled networks and RSVP-TE networks
• Addresses multilayer optimization
• Plans maintenance events for rerouting traffic
• Provides detailed insights, like node status, link utilization, segment routing paths, and label-switched paths (LSPs), through live network topology maps
• Helps with real-time monitoring of IP/MPLS paths along with provision segment routing
• Offers solutions for complex interdomain path-computation

Key Benefits of Paragon Pathfinder

Network Optimization

Pathfinder optimizes the network performance metrics and ensures user service levels using the monitoring techniques and practices. It also identifies reliability issues by network latency and response time analysis. As such, it provides a thorough understanding of the network activity.

Path Ordering and Synchronization

Paragon Pathfinder uses signaling across routed network elements to provide specific path ordering and network synchronization. As a result, it eliminates congestion scenarios by efficiently mapping traffic streams onto available resources.

Global Network View

As it provides a global view of the network state, businesses can comprehensively monitor, manage, and plan the network architecture. It also assesses the bandwidth demand of the network and modifies the LSP attributes accordingly.

Deterministic and Predictable Network State

Pathfinder can also help with demand forecasts and calculate deterministic and predictable network states for better preparedness. The margin of error is minimal.

Network Slicing

As 5G networking has expanded, network slicing has become a requisite component. This configuration can help with traffic flow management and meet top enterprise needs through expansive and dynamic network connectivity. Paragon Pathfinder helps orchestrate transport network slicing for fifth-generation network solutions.

Cloud-Native Platform

As business operations are heavily dependent on cloud platforms, Paragon Pathfinder provides a highly available, redundant, and scale-out cloud architecture that supports virtual machines (VMs) and containers. It also provides flexible deployment solutions.

Paragon Pathfinder Use Cases

Juniper Networks Paragon Pathfinder use cases include:

• Flexible bandwidth calendaring and optimization
• Network visualization and defragmentation with traffic engineering solutions
• Maintenance of SLAs and automatic path restoration support
• Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) metric optimization
• Automatic, quick, and accurate network deployment with predictive network insights
• Multilayer Packet optical Integration through dynamic interaction with traffic controllers

Differentiators

The key differentiators that make Paragon Pathfinder a distinguished network controller are:

• The architecture of Paragon Pathfinder is per the Path Computation Element (PCE) defined in RFC 5440.
• It includes Path Computation Client (PCC), the network device’s client-side component, and follows the Patch Computation Element Protocol (PECP).
• It assures a consistent experience and maximizes return on network investments.
• As it eliminates manual intervention and depends on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, it can efficiently detect network faults, perform simulations, and initiate maintenance requests.
• It provides configuration backup and accommodates changes, per the network demands.
• It can discover the network topology using IGP peering, BGP-LS updates, and REST API calls. It uses the notion of abstract topology, per IETF standards.

User Reviews for Paragon Pathfinder

Paragon Pathfinder users speak highly of the product and appreciate the software’s ability to monitor and dynamically handle the production workload proactively. A TrustRadius user says this software helps their organization with a highly optimized, resilient, and robust networking system. They gain more control and better security by automating the traffic flow. They are also impressed with the simple traffic rerouting solutions using a click of a button.

A Gartner Peer Insights reviewer also says that Paragon products have integration capabilities and use an advanced analytics engine to provide network visibility. As a result, monitoring a network and improving business process agility becomes easier. The appealing factors of the products are the breadth of services offered in a comprehensive package at an optimal cost.

However, Paragon Pathfinder some users report facing issues in writing scripts for network automation. Creating a dedicated user community can solve the problem to some extent, as users can avail a platform to share the scripts and deliver various insights. Another issue some users report is limited pricing options are available for the products.

Conclusions

The Paragon Automation Suite from Jupiter is a top package that has helped businesses with modern network traffic solutions. It provides a self-healing mechanism and is a crucial stepping stone toward the self-driving network. Paragon Pathfinder is an essential component of the company’s automation solution that provides operational simplicity through an SDN control point. It is a true multi-vendor solution, as it offers multilayer views of the network, terminating the need for manual configuration. Therefore, it can help companies with operational excellence and optimized network performance, solving the most demanding network challenges.