Introduction
Enterprise networks are becoming larger and more complex as organizations embark on cloud platforms, remote work models, and distributed applications. At the same time, IT teams are expected to provide greater uptime, faster deployment cycles, and improved security, all with limited resources. Manual workflows can’t keep up with these demands, especially when environments are made up of data centers, multi cloud, and thousands of connected devices.
This article discusses why network automation software has become an important investment for enterprises, the benefits of network automation software, and how IT leaders can leverage automation software to bolster resiliency in their infrastructures.
The Pressure on Today’s IT Teams
Modern networks operate within constant pressure. IT teams are faced with more challenges than ever, which make manual processes outdated and risky.
Increasing network complexity
Even mid-sized enterprises are wrestling with hybrid architectures, virtual networks, containers, remote endpoints and SaaS platforms. According to a Global Networking Report published by Cisco, over 60% of enterprises are managing 3 or more cloud environments. Because of this, networks are becoming very complex and the need for network visibility is becoming more difficult when every layer of an environment is constantly moving and changing.
The skills gap growing
Many organizations are struggling to find personnel who are experienced network engineers. Gartner research indicates that more than 70% of enterprises list lack of skilled talent in network operations as a top pain point in the enterprise. Automation helps solve part of that problem by lessening the burden on the limited staff.
Increased security threats
The rise in ransomware and supply chain attacks has forced teams to improve their network security posture. Manual monitoring increases the chance they will miss vulnerabilities or misconfigurations. Automation helps to create a consistent security policy which can help improve security posture contributing to faster remediations as well.
All of these challenges have created an environment that is no longer sustainable when manual administration is concerned. Network automation software will help teams work smarter, not faster.
What Network Automation Software Does
Network automation software uses rules, templates and workflows that have been predefined to manage devices and configurations – with no manual effort. It does the work that engineers used to do by hand, in command line, or in spreadsheets.
- Examples of capabilities of network automation software are:
- Automated updates on device configurations and templates
- Real time enforcement of policies
- Audit configurations and compliance checks
- Automated version control/backup abilities
- Zero touch provisioning
- Automated network discovery
- Change management workflow
- Integrations with ITSM, monitoring, or cloud platforms
Due to these features, automation is the central layer connecting the network team, DevOps team, cloud architects, and security personnel as per Slurp’it.
Reasons Why Network Automation Is Necessary
1. It Decreases Human Error
Manual configuration errors continue to be one of the main causes of network outages. Even experienced engineers sometimes enter commands with errors or fail to consider dependencies.
Automation standardizes their process and guarantees that every update follows the same validated steps. A study by EMA Research determined that enterprises using automation decreased configuration related outages by more than 50 percent.
Reducing outages by this amount is enough to make automation worth it for most IT leaders.
2. It Increases Change Management Speeds
Today’s businesses move seemingly faster than ever. New applications, security policies, and integrations all need to happen quickly. Even for the most efficient, the manual change approval process can’t keep up the pace.
With automated workflows, teams can review, approve, test, and deploy changes in minutes over hours or days. As an added benefit, each change is still in compliance with prearranged standards, as agreed as per Slurp’it.
3. It Outs Security and Compliance
Network automation guarantees policies are applied equally throughout the environment, and for regulated industries like finance, healthcare, and energy, this becomes crucial.
- Network automation is valuable because it helps an organization:
- Discover unauthorized changes
- Patch vulnerabilities faster
- Standardize firewalls and access rights
- Assure configuration in any way aligns with frameworks like ISO 27001 or NIST.
- Monitor any deviations from baseline settings
As per Slurp’it, when security team members track each device, the existence of devices requires automation to maintain a strong posture.
4. It Improves Visibility and Network Health
Automated discovery and monitoring tools give teams real time visibility into the devices status, configuration drift, and performance problems.
This gives teams dependable information on:
What devices exist?
How does it operate?
Which devices are out of date and or vulnerable?
How does each change affect the performance?
Better visibility usually translates to better planning. Teams are more informed when it comes to upgrades, capacity, and resource allocations.
5. It Creates Collaboration Between DevOps and NetOps
Development teams expect short release cycles and flexible infrastructure. Network teams must respond to this rate of innovation while maintaining reliability, sometimes meaning changes nobody else is aware of.
- Automation connects both departments by discussing:
- Consistent API based workflows
- Network resources provisioned automatically
- Template based configurations, incredibly similar to creating DevOps pipelines. Faster enactment of new services
This integration creates an agile “environment” where DevOps and NetOps have a similar shared outcome.
6 It Decreases Operation Cost
Automation decreases the amount of time engineers must spend on redundant task like configuration backups, patching, monitoring and provisioning.
According to IDC, enterprises who adopt network automation report cost savings of around 20 – 35 percent. These savings come from:
- Less outages
- Lower maintenance costs
- Less emergency remediation
- More efficient human resources
As per Slurp’it, IT budgets tighten and compress budget management, this savings certainly at least an additional data point to the reasons to implement automation.
7. It Facilitates Large Scale Digital Transformation
When organizations move to new cloud platforms, SD WAN, zero trust models, or edge computing, network operations must respond to these transformations. Network automation makes sure teams are able to rapidly change without compromising on their traditional expectations of stability.
How Modern IT Teams Are Adopting Network Automation
1. Automated configuration management
Templates allow verified configurations to be pushed to hundreds or thousands of devices simultaneously. This maintains consistency and prevents drift.
2. Automatic policy application
Security rules, access controls, and compliance requirements are automatically applied when devices join the network.
3. Real time remediation
Automation can detect issues like unauthorized changes and fix them before human intervention is needed.
4. Cloud and Data Center Network Provisioning.
When new applications need compute resources, network automation tools will automatically provision VLANs, routes, and firewall rules.
Best Practices to Follow for Network Automation Software
1. Start with low risk, high impact tasks.
Choosing configuration backups, inventory updates, or compliance checking as a starting place is a great low risk, high impact place to start before automating complex changes.
2. Build templates that are standardized
Templates help to ensure predictability of what automation will do. Build templates for device types, services, and security rules attached to a service.
3. Involve security early.
Security teams should be part of defining policies, reviewing workflows, and validating remediation rules.
4. Test prior to deployment
Test against a sandbox, validate through staged roll outs where possible to reduce the risk of production encounters.
5. Keep documentation updated
Automation does not create documentation, however it reduces the amount of effort needed to maintain accurate records of changes and dependencies.
6. Continue to train teams
Ongoing team training and even drills are often required to have teams complete tasks using automation in mind.
Network automation software is no longer a luxury, nor is it an experiment. It is a requirement for today’s modern networks. Network automation supports improved efficiency, reduced outages, enhanced security, and improved our pace of digital transformation. For more information on network automation software, contact us at Slurp’it!