The Vmx-bundle-17.1r1.8.tgz represents a significant step in network function virtualization, bringing the full feature set of Juniper's MX Series routers to virtualized environments. Its dual-node architecture—with separate control and forwarding planes running as independent VMs—provides flexibility while maintaining compatibility with physical MX router configurations.
HOST: identifier: vmx1 host-management-interface: eth0
What you plan to run it on (e.g., bare-metal KVM, EVE-NG, or VMware ESXi)
The bundle contains two primary virtual machine components that work in tandem to simulate a physical router: Vmx-bundle-17.1r1.8.tgz
If the VFP console appears locked or unresponsive during boot:
When you extract Vmx-bundle-17.1r1.8.tgz using standard Linux utility commands ( tar -xzvf Vmx-bundle-17.1r1.8.tgz ), you will typically find the following internal directory structure and files:
A .qcow2 or .img file used to boot the Virtual Control Plane. The Vmx-bundle-17
To successfully deploy the vMX router using this bundle, the host system must meet specific requirements. Juniper Networks recommends using Ubuntu as the host OS for KVM deployments [14†L13-L14]. For Release 17.1R1.8, a significant feature added was official support for CentOS 7.2 hosts [14†L19-L21].
This production-ready compressed tarball contains the dual-plane architecture components required to run a virtualized counterpart of the physical Juniper MX Series 3D Universal Edge Router . It serves as a vital resource for network engineers designing network topologies, testing Junos OS features, or staging automated enterprise configurations within lab simulators like EVE-NG or GNS3. Architectural Components Inside the Bundle
When managing or deploying this platform, you will often encounter specific software package names. One such foundational package is . To successfully deploy the vMX router using this
Extract the tarball to your desired directory.
You can check the current mode with show chassis hardware , and for Junos OS 17.3R1 and later, the part number field will display RIOT-PERF (Performance Mode) or RIOT-LITE (Lite Mode).