JUNIPER MS-MIC-16G 16GB MULTISERVICE MODULAR INTERFACE CARD

📦 Product Overview

Juniper 16G NAT Card (MS-MIC-16G-A) is a Modular Interface Card (MIC) designed for use in Juniper MX Series routers. Its primary purpose is to provide hardware-accelerated Network Address Translation (NAT)processing, enabling service providers and enterprises to deliver high-performance NAT at scale, which is critical in IPv4 address conservation, subscriber management, and service provider edge functions.

This card integrates NAT processing into the router’s forwarding plane, offloading the compute burden from the general CPU and enabling better throughput and scalability.

⚙️ Key Specifications

✔ Type

• Modular Interface Card (MIC)
• Designed to be inserted into compatible MX Series chassis in supported MIC bays.

✔ Functionality

• Hardware-accelerated NAT
• Provides acceleration for Network Address Translation (NAT), specifically optimized for high-throughput network environments.

✔ Performance

• Up to 16 Gbps of NAT throughput in hardware
• (exact throughput can vary based on configuration, traffic mix, and router platform).

✔ Capacity

• Supports a large number of active NAT sessions (session scaling varies based on platform, memory, and configuration).

✔ Host Support

• Designed to work with MX Series Universal Routing Platforms, particularly where NAT functions must be hardware accelerated for performance.

🚀 Core Features

🔹 High-Performance NAT

• Offloads NAT processing to dedicated hardware on the MIC, significantly increasing throughput compared with software NAT.
• Supports high packet rate forwarding with minimal CPU load.

🔹 Scalability

• Designed for service provider-class environments requiring tens of gigabits of NAT throughput.
• Supports large session counts, helping service providers manage IPv4 shortages through address sharing.

🔹 Integration with Routing

• Seamlessly integrates with the Junos OS NAT feature set, allowing routing and NAT policies to coexist without complex configuration.

🔹 Service Provider Optimized

• Suitable for broadband edge, mobile backhaul, enterprise edge, and other high-volume NAT deployment scenarios.

🔹 Hardware Offload

• Moves NAT session handling from general CPU to dedicated hardware engines on the MIC, reducing overall system load and improving latency.
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🧩 Compatibility

🖥 Supported Platforms

• Designed for use in Juniper MX Series routers that support modular NAT cards. This typically includes platforms such as:
• MX5T, MX10, MX40, MX80
• MX104
• MX240
• MX480
• MX960
• Larger MX3600/4800 platforms
• (Exact support should be verified for your specific chassis and Junos OS version.)

📦 Software Requirements

• Works with Junos OS versions that include support for hardware NAT acceleration and the MS-MIC-16G-A card.
• Configuration and operation are through Junos CLI, consistent with other NAT and routing features.

🔌 Interoperability

• Works with other MX interface cards (e.g., 10G, 40G, 100G Ethernet MICs) to provide NAT on aggregated traffic flows.
• Compatible with standard NAT policies, address pools, and scaling mechanisms within the Junos feature set.