JNCIE-SP study guide
JNCIE-SP · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Juniper Networks Certified Internet Expert – Service Provider (JNCIE-SP) is Juniper's expert-level certification for network engineers who design, build, and operate large-scale service provider networks on Junos OS. It sits above the JNCIP-SP professional credential and is aimed at engineers with several years of hands-on Junos experience who already understand routing fundamentals and now need to prove they can configure and troubleshoot a complete SP topology under their own direction. The JNCIE-SP study guide has 8 sections and about 3,078 words.
01System and Platform Configuration
This domain checks operational fluency with Junos OS itself: local and remote authentication, login classes, syslog destinations, NTP synchronization, SNMP access, chassis/interface configuration, and the software upgrade and commit lifecycle. The exam favors exact hierarchy names and predictable rollback behavior.
397 words, about 2 min02Interior Gateway Protocols and Routing Policy
IGP and policy questions test whether you can scale OSPF and IS-IS, redistribute safely, and predict policy evaluation. Expect route-filter syntax, policy default actions, OSPF external metrics, and IS-IS level and metric behavior.
410 words, about 2 min03BGP and Service Provider Routing
BGP questions cover iBGP scaling, route reflection, confederations, attribute manipulation, best-path selection, and interaction with the IGP. The exam expects you to know which attributes are transitive and where policy is applied.
389 words, about 2 min04MPLS and Label Distribution
MPLS questions test label distribution with LDP, traffic engineering with RSVP-TE, forwarding-plane behavior, and label stacking. You must distinguish the control plane (LDP/RSVP) from the forwarding tables (inet.3 and mpls.0).
390 words, about 2 min05Layer 3 VPNs
Layer 3 VPN questions test VRF construction, MP-BGP VPNv4 signaling, route-target import/export, PE-CE routing, and inter-AS designs. The key distinction is between the RD, which makes prefixes unique, and the RT, which controls distribution.
360 words, about 2 min06Layer 2 VPNs and EVPN
Layer 2 VPN and EVPN questions test VPLS signaling, L2VPN pseudowires, EVPN route types, multihoming, and MAC learning. You must know which component learns MACs in the control plane versus the data plane.
363 words, about 2 min07Multicast
Multicast questions test IGMP, PIM-SM and SSM, RP placement, MSDP, and multicast VPNs. The exam focuses on RPF, shared versus source trees, and how multicast is tunneled over MPLS.
352 words, about 2 min08High Availability, Security, and Troubleshooting
This domain covers fast failure detection with BFD, Routing Engine redundancy (GRES/NSR), class of service, firewall filters, and structured troubleshooting. Expect questions on timer negotiation, filter default actions, and verification commands.
417 words, about 2 min