Network Automation: Why does your business need it?
Automation is transforming how businesses manage and operate their networks. Manual network management processes are no longer adequate in today’s fast-paced digital landscape to meet the demands of complex and dynamic networks. Businesses can use advanced technologies to streamline operations, increase efficiency, and improve reliability by leveraging network automation. This article looks at network automation, its benefits, and how it affects network management. It provides valuable insights into the fundamentals of network automation and its transformative potential, whether you’re a network administrator, IT manager, or simply curious about network automation. So, let’s take a look and see how it can transform network management.
What is Network Automation?
Network automation is the process of automating the configuring, managing, testing, deploying, and operating of physical and virtual devices within a network. With everyday network tasks and functions automated and repetitive processes controlled and managed automatically, network service availability improves.
Any type of network can use network automation. Hardware and software-based solutions enable data centers, service providers, and enterprises to implement network automation to improve efficiency, reduce human error, and lower operating expenses.
How does it work?
Network automation software finds the most efficient way to map, configure, provision, and manage a network. API-based automation replaces manual, command-line instructions to configure each networking device. The APIs can be invoked directly or go through a programming language, for example, Python, Java, or Go. Scripts are only one aspect of network automation – a modern automation platform monitors network resources when provisioning and verifies that a network will be able to handle a configuration request before implementing it.
Network automation benefits
Enterprises can realize the following benefits by automating their network operations:
- Reduced possibility of human errors: IT automation reduces the manual intervention of complex network processes and the likelihood of errors, such as config mistakes and typos. Reduced errors also improve enterprise network resiliency and reliability, allowing you to maintain minimum acceptable service levels in network fault scenarios.
- Optimized network performance: You can leverage multiple network monitoring tools to help automate tasks such as network capacity forecasting to enhance your network performance. Such tools regularly monitor and oversee the health of your network devices and alert network administrators in case of errors, such as excessive resource usage, duplicate IP addresses, and missing routes. Receiving timely alerts can optimize your network performance and accelerate service delivery.
- Lower IT costs: Automation eliminates the additional time, resources, and manual effort required for network administration. This lowers the cost of IT maintenance and management in your enterprise, and automating networks keeps IT staff away from the repetitive, low-value tasks associated with network administration. You can then spend the time saved focusing on strategic initiatives capable of driving productivity and innovation in your business.
- Deeper insights and network control: Automation provides greater visibility into network operations by helping identify and troubleshoot existing issues and predict future vulnerabilities faster. It also supports complex network analysis, co-relating data from various sources such as switches, routers, configuration files, and more. It gives you the ability to control and adjust your network operations as required.
- Simplified network management: Simplify network administration processes with IT automation. Manual network operations are resource- and time-intensive and challenging to perform regularly. Relying on automation can help you implement network configuration and change management tasks efficiently and consistently. It also reduces the risk of network downtime and ensures greater availability during peak business hours. Additionally, automation enables you to easily apply mass configuration changes to your network components with minimal effort, making management faster and more efficient.
Why your business needs it
All the above network automation examples translate into a panoply of advantages that help every business maximize profitability and boost resilience. Here are some of the main reasons why your business needs it.
- Gain a competitive advantage. The ability to deploy services rapidly, make swift configuration changes, and adapt to emerging technologies ensures that your organization responds quickly to market demands and stays ahead of the competition. Streamlined operations enable you to innovate more efficiently, introducing new products or services faster than your competitors.
- Meet customer expectations. Your customers expect you to be able to provide services on time and without disruptions. Network automation ensures that your networks are reliable and responsible, delivering top performance levels so you can meet and exceed customer expectations.
- Future-proof your business. Technology is changing all the time, with business teams constantly requesting more services and networks perpetually gaining complexity. Network automation results in more agile and robust networks that can adapt to upcoming protocols and meet future technological changes and challenges.
- Increase resiliency. Cyber attacks are proliferating all around the world, as are natural disasters and political turbulence that can cause power outages and remove servers from operation. Network automation helps you to build a network that can recover quickly from such setbacks and enable you to maintain services no matter what happens.
- Deliver value. Relieved of the burden of manual configurations and repetitive tasks, network management teams can focus on innovating new services and driving the organizations toward their business transformation goals.
Types of Network Automation
Automation can be employed in any type of network, including LANs, WANs, data center networks, cloud networks, and wireless networks. In short, any network resource controlled through a CLI or an API can be automated.
Script-driven network automation
This type employs scripting and programming languages to execute tasks, ideally those with precise triggers and consistent procedures. Legacy languages, such as Perl and Tcl, remain prevalent in network automation due to their familiarity.
As networks continue to become more complex, newer open-source programming languages, such as Ansible, Python, and Ruby, have grown in popularity for their ease of use and flexibility. Other programming languages for network automation include Bash and Go.
Software-based network automation
Software-based network automation, often referred to as intelligent network automation, is coordinated through an administrative portal that eliminates the need to script commands manually. These platforms typically provide templates for creating and executing tasks based on plain language policies.
Intent-based network automation
The latest network automation includes the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to understand user and business intent and automatically modify how network policy is enforced based on this knowledge. Network administrators create performance service levels for applications and users. When these service levels are not met, the network automatically adjusts – as best it can – to bring business-critical application performance levels back in line.
What is the future of network automation?
The future of network automation is poised to be a landscape where advanced technologies not only simplify network management but also redefine it. As we look ahead, we can expect AI and machine learning to play increasingly central roles, enabling networks to become more intelligent and self-sufficient. These technologies will allow networks to predict and adapt to changes in real-time, offering unprecedented levels of efficiency and resilience.
Integration with emerging technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing will further expand the scope of network automation. Networks will become more complex and expansive, and automation will be key to managing this complexity effectively. This will lead to networks that are not only self-managing but also capable of self-optimization and self-healing, reducing the need for human intervention and increasing network predictability.
Finally, the democratization of network automation tools, driven by user-friendly interfaces and simplified management platforms will make advanced network management accessible to a broader range of organizations.
With these advancements, network automation is set to become an indispensable part of the IT infrastructure, driving innovation and efficiency across industries.