We’re fresh off the heels of a successful #AnsibleFest in Austin, TX where we were able to demonstrate firsthand our joint technology offering with Red Hat, that enhances and expands Ansible’s network automation capabilities.
AnsibleFest enjoyed an impressive turnout with diverse SMBs and large enterprises in attendance representing service providers, financial services, healthcare, transportation, education and other industries. AnsibleFest proved that network automation is a key strategic initiative for many companies, as they see the value of moving to an automated, modern network.
Itential is all about Network Automation, and we are focused on enabling our customers to build, execute and visualize Network Intelligent Workflows that fuel the journey toward the modern network. In partnering with Red Hat Ansible, we are excited to accelerate this journey for enterprises and expanding automation across IT and networking teams.
Key Takeaways
Automation is extending to the network
IT departments are accustomed to extensive automation, but the network is an area that has been lacking. The ability to leverage Ansible, a tool they already use, for this is exciting.
How Itential helps: Operationalizes the processes involved in deploying new network elements, managing the lifecycle of those elements, and decommissioning those elements when the time comes. This is accomplished with activities such as pre/post checks to validate network state, change request/approvals, and Itential routing to the appropriate Ansible modules for execution of activities required.
Low/no code interfaces are required
The time involved in learning to use new tools is a barrier to network automation. New tools introduced must accelerate automation with little training required, and these tools have to be usable by non-developers.
How Itential helps: CLI commands, scripts and YAML files are replaced by drag and drop network automation that accelerates the implementation of new automation. The embedded network intelligence provided by Itential allows non-network engineers to effectively automate processes not possible before without that skillset.
Ansible Network Engine is an awesome tool
Red Hat has created common “network function” roles that address a majority of use cases making network automation playbooks a breeze.
How Itential helps: When paired with Itential’s low-code and intelligent network automation solution, the traditional IT server management use cases Ansible is widely used for can be expanded to include the network, security, and other domains. The deep integration between Ansible and Itential provides a single automation solution covering all IT domains.
It’s time to expand DevOps to NetOps
DevOps processes are present and mature within many enterprise IT organizations. The application of these principles to the network is the logical next step.
How Itential helps: Itential is designed with a DevOps mindset, focusing on NetOps processes. Combining the existing DevOps Playbooks with the NetOps DNA of Itential allows enterprise IT to take the next step in automation.
It’s All About Open Source
Leveraging the collective knowledge and talents of the open source community is vital to providing the needed level of innovation.
How Itential helps: Itential is supplying a set of Ansible modules to the open source community that allow for the execution of the solution’s capabilities from Ansible and Ansible Tower. We feel that the path to success for Itential and our customers is to be an active participant in the open source communities within the automation domain. Click here to visit our Github.
Red Hat Ansible Automation is something to be excited about, and now Itential helps you take its network automation capabilities to the next level. To learn more, register for Itential’s webinar “Supercharge Ansible for Networking with Itential.”
Mike Elrom
Director of Customer & Tech Partner Enablement ‐ Itential
Mike Elrom is the Director of Customer & Tech Partner Enablement at Itential who has spent his entire professional career working on telecommunications networks. Holding roles within Network Operations and Software Development teams, Mike’s career has naturally progressed into network automation. At Itential, Mike has the pleasure of working with our customer’s network engineers while he and his team are responsible for enabling our customers to become successful automation engineers.