For a Juniper cloud-ready switch to connect to the Juniper Mist Cloud, it must be able to resolve the Mist cloud's fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) to IP addresses, which necessitates connectivity to a DNS server. Additionally, the switch requires outbound network access to the Mist cloud. It primarily attempts to establish a secure connection over TCP port 2200 for the Juniper Message Bus (JMB), and if that fails, it falls back to using a WebSockets connection over TCP port 443. These two conditions—DNS resolution and appropriate outbound port access—are fundamental prerequisites for successful onboarding and management.

A. The minimum required Junos OS version varies by switch model and is typically much lower than 23.2. For example, some EX models are supported with versions as early as 18.x.

C. Licensing for Mist-managed devices is handled within the Juniper Mist portal itself. The switch does not need a direct connection to the Juniper Agile Licensing Portal for its operation.

1. Juniper Mist Documentation, "Juniper Mist Ports and IP Addresses for Firewall Configuration": This document explicitly states, "Juniper devices (APs, switches, and routers) connect to the Juniper Mist cloud over TCP port 443 or TCP port 2200." This directly supports answer B.

2. Juniper Mist Documentation, "Bring Your Juniper Switch into the Mist Cloud": In the "Before You Begin" section, a key prerequisite is listed: "Ensure that the switch can resolve hostnames to IP addresses. You can use a DNS server or static DNS entries for this." This directly supports answer D.

3. Juniper Mist Documentation, "Supported EX Series Switches": This page details the minimum Junos OS versions required for each switch model to be managed by Mist. The versions listed (e.g., 18.2R1 for EX2300, 20.4R2 for EX4400) demonstrate that version 23.2 is not a universal minimum requirement, invalidating option A.