I think the more common solution for something like that would be to use one 100GbE port as a trunk on a MX204 or MX304 to a directly adjacent 1U 48-port SFP+ switch in a purely L2 role used as a port expander, with dwdm/bidi/other unique types of SFP+ optics inserted in that.

On Tue, 14 Jun 2022 at 08:08, tim@pelican.org <tim@pelican.org> wrote:

> The MX204 is pure shocker! Unless the MX304 will come with a
> license-based approach to run at MX204 pricing, that is Juniper shooting
> themselves in the foot.

Unless I'm missing a trick, the MX304 doesn't have an answer to installing DWDM, bidi, or other fancy optics in the SPF+ ports on the MX204. QSFP+ breakout to 4 x 10G is supported, but only 4 x vanilla 1310 optics - you'll need an external OEO solution if you want fancy 10G options.

It otherwise seems a nice box on paper, although substantially more expensive than the MX204.

Cheers,
Tim.