Network automation is the process of automating the configuration, management, testing, deployment, and operation of physical and virtual devices within a network. Every day, the tasks and functions of the network are executed automatically. Using a combination of hardware and software solutions, large organizations, service providers, and enterprises can implement network automation to control and manage repetitive processes and improve the availability of network services.
Today, networks are fully capable of undertaking the following tasks:
Discovery of topologies
Manage bandwidth and find quick diversions to implement the best compute paths
Perform a root cause analysis
Update and installation of roads
Establish performance criteria
Software update
Implementing security and compliance
Working together, automation and orchestration simplify network operations involving complex configurations and device management, while providing businesses with flexibility to adapt to an ever-changing environment. You can think of automation as a task that can be repeated without human intervention and an orchestration like the process of stringing together a series of these tasks to complete a process or workflow.
Network automation is based on the rapid expansion of the network infrastructure necessary for the exponential growth of network traffic generated by the use of video, social media, data and applications. In addition, as computing power continues to shrink in terms of cost and virtual computing, network automation is becoming more accessible for many businesses. Various types of network automation can apply to LANs, virtualized environments, data centers, and public and private clouds.
Benefits of automation
For many organizations, the lack of flexibility to deal with network changes has become a bottleneck, preventing them from deploying a robust and highly responsive data center infrastructure. For service providers, automation is the fundamental strategy on which to focus to increase network flexibility and reliability while controlling operational expenses (OpEx) and capital expenditures (CapEx). To improve operational efficiency, margins, and customer satisfaction, service providers can automate routine and complex tasks that can be tedious, repetitive, or prone to errors. Opening and interoperability of automation support APIs, standards-based protocols, and open source automation infrastructures (such as Ansible, Saltstack, Puppet, and Chef). Service providers and enterprises can leverage these automation infrastructures to accelerate the migration of their network automation.
By automating network capabilities and implementing software products that provide automation, organizations gain the following benefits:
Reduce costs: Because automation reduces the complexity of your underlying infrastructure, the number of person hours required for configuration, provisioning, and service and network management is significantly reduced. By simplifying operations, consolidating network services, reducing floor space and shutting down underutilized devices, you need fewer people to troubleshoot and repair, and to save energy.
Improve business continuity: By eliminating the risk of human error, organizations can offer and provide a higher level of service with greater consistency across branch offices and geographies. For example, Juniper Networks Service Now is a remote automated troubleshooting client that enables Juniper to quickly and proactively detect all issues on a customer’s network before they become aware of it.
Increase strategic workforce – By automating repetitive tasks that are prone to human error, companies increase their productivity, which contributes to their improvement and innovation. As a result, new job opportunities are emerging for the existing workforce.