How-To Guide: Ordering Juniper Mist subscriptions for wireless networks

Whether you’re new to Juniper’s solutions range or a veteran with their tech, you’ve likely encountered Juniper Mist AI. The cloud-based Juniper Mist portfolio includes various AI-powered tools and services, automating and streamlining many of the workflows involved in network management. However, purchasing and maintaining Juniper Mist’s subscription services isn’t always as obvious as you’d think. This guide should help you identify, order, and get the most out of the right Juniper Mist services for your organisation.

Note that this guide applies only to Juniper Mist’s subscriptions for wireless networks.

Juniper Mist’s wireless services: which is right for you?

Juniper Mist currently offers five different services for wireless network management:

  Wi-Fi Assurance

  Marvis, the Virtual Network Assistant

  Asset Visibility

  User Engagement

  Premium Analytics

Each of these services fulfils specific roles in managing and optimising the network. Subscription costs will stack as you add services, so work out what you need before you buy.

Wi-Fi Assurance uses machine learning to replace manual troubleshooting tasks. Not only does it automate many of these everyday wireless operations, it’ll also give you comprehensive visibility into Wi-Fi user service levels and the issues that might be affecting them. For example, Wi-Fi Assurance might reveal that a certain percentage of devices aren’t hitting your site bandwidth goal, and that Wi-Fi interference is causing difficulties for at least half of them. Use Wi-Fi Assurance to diagnose the root causes of the issues users might be facing.

Note also that Wi-Fi Assurance is a mandatory subscription if you’re using any Juniper wireless access points.

The Marvis Virtual Network Assistant does what its name sounds like – it assists IT in understanding and optimising the entire user experience on your network. One of Marvis’ standout features is its conversational capabilities that allow it to understand requests in everyday language. You might ask it which users have been unhappy in the past week, for example, and it’ll give you a list of users who’ve experienced subpar experience – as well as the underlying issues giving them grief, and recommendations on how to solve the problem. 

Marvis Action, another component, acts like a robotic network consultant: it’ll examine your network, uncover potential performance issues, and make suggestions on how to fix them (including physical solutions like adding or repositioning access points).

Then you’ve got more technical and focused services like Asset Visibility, which helps in finding key assets and people at your network sites based on their location. Asset Visibility employs Juniper’s patented Virtual Bluetooth Low Energy technology, as does User Engagement, a service that improves the accuracy of real-time indoor location services like wayfinding or proximity notifications.

Finally, Premium Analytics pulls together data from your networks and clients (including third-party network elements) to offer in-depth insights into your broader network footprint. While the standard Juniper dashboard only offers reporting history of up to 30 days, Premium Analytics stretches that back up to a whole year. It’s especially useful for more sophisticated network admins managing complex multisite networks or specialised use cases, including bespoke reporting requirements.

Subscribing to your Mist services: tips and tricks

It’s straightforward to subscribe to any (or all) of Juniper Mist’s cloud services:

1.    Choose your desired Juniper access points.
2.    Select which subscriptions you want.
3.    Select the subscription duration.

Your subscription SKU will consist of: SUB-_S-_Y, where the number before “S” and “Y” indicates the number of subscriptions and years respectively. For example, SUB-2S-3Y would mean you’ve subscribed for two services for three years.

Before you confirm your subscription, consider these tips:

• Juniper offers better pricing the more subscriptions you purchase at the same time. That means purchasing more subscriptions upfront makes more sense (and dollars) than adding them as you go.
• If you’re purchasing three or more services, just buy all five instead – the price is the same as selecting three services at once. See example in Table 1.
• If you’re using Mist for 2 years or longer, we recommend a 3-year subscription of Wi-Fi Assurance and Mist. This’ll help you get the most out of your Juniper solutions in the long run, thanks to the unique AI capabilities offered by these two services.

Network management often proves challenging, which is why procuring new wireless services should be anything but. If you’re keen to explore Juniper Mist’s options or need a hand with purchasing, get in touch with us at juniper.presales@dickerdata.com.au.