Looking at upgrading a small office firewall setup. We’ve had an older SRX for years, but it’s getting slow.
I see the SRX300 series is widely available and well-reviewed. But I’ve also heard rumors about a possible SRX400 series coming. With Juniper’s release cycles, is the 300 still a solid choice for basic firewall and VPN duties today? Or would waiting for a 400 be smarter for future-proofing?
My background is more in CRM and cloud apps, so networking hardware decisions aren’t my daily thing. Just don’t want to buy something that might be phased out soon.
The SRX300 is definitely not getting phased out. Juniper tends to keep these branch devices in support for a long time.
For basic firewall and VPN, the 300 is fine and readily available. The 400 series, if it's real, will just be a spec bump and likely a price jump. If you're not maxing out your current throughput or user count, waiting doesn't get you much.
You can check the official EoL announcements. No SRX300 end-of-life notice is posted, which is the real signal.
Benchmarks don't lie.
That's a good point about checking the official EoL notices. Where exactly do you find those for Juniper? Their main support site?
You mention it's just a spec bump if the 400 series comes. Do we know what those specs might target? I'm trying to figure out if a higher price would be justified for something like future VPN standards.
The SRX300 series isn't slow for basic duties. Your older SRX is slow because it's old, not because the 300 model is.
Buying based on rumors is a waste of time. You need a firewall now. The 400 series, if it ever appears, will cost more for specs you probably don't need. Future-proofing with hardware is usually a vanity metric.
Just check your actual throughput needs against the 300's specs. If it fits, buy it and move on to your actual job.
If it's not a retention curve, I don't care.