Case Study

How a Leading Health Insurance Provider Sunset HPNA & Cut Backups from Hours to Minutes with Itential

A North American health insurance provider migrated off legacy HP Network Automation, unified configuration management across 2,500+ devices and 6+ device types, and dropped BGP reroute time from 15 minutes to 53 seconds – all on Itential.

Challenge

A post-merger network of 2,500+ devices and 6+ device types – mission-critical, global, multi-vendor – running on legacy HP Network Automation that only supported limited CLI vendors, offered no API support, and required custom code for every automation.

Solution

Itential replaced HPNA as the single platform for configuration management – preserving all data through migration, extending coverage to API-managed devices, and enabling end-to-end orchestrated change workflows without custom development.

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Why Itential

Integrate-with-anything model, no-code automation across CLI and API devices, Golden Configuration trees across multi-vendor environments, Compliance Plans, automated remediation in minutes – everything HPNA could not do.

The Challenge

Escaping Tech Debt: The Need for Modern, Integrated Network Management

The leading healthcare insurance provider in North America set out to refresh their technology ecosystem after a merger left them with many disparate tools and systems for managing their network. The goal was to simplify the toolset, preserve every byte of data along the way, and avoid any lapses in a service their members rely on.

One of their main priorities was replacing HP Network Automation (HPNA) – a point solution for configuration management of traditional network devices. HPNA had been built several years earlier and had not kept up with modern networking. It offered only limited vendor CLI support and no API support, which prevented the team from leveraging any device type, controller, or third-party system they wanted in the network. Any automation of configuration management with HPNA required custom code, increasing investment and slowing adoption.

With backups required for over 2,500 devices across 6+ device types – and a network that is both global and mission-critical – any migration had to be seamless. No data loss, no problematic outages. Managing configuration compliance had become a significant use of engineering time. The team needed a tool that could replace key backup and storage capabilities, extend management across the rest of their ecosystem, and enable end-to-end orchestration by coordinating configuration management with the broader change management process.

Three Limits Built Into the Legacy Toolset

Each one was acceptable when HPNA was first installed. Together, they capped what the team could automate – and made post-merger consolidation impossible without a new platform.

HPNA: CLI Only, No APIs

HPNA offered only limited vendor CLI support and no API support, which prevented the team from leveraging any device type, controller, or third-party system they wanted to bring into their network management strategy.

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Every Automation Required Custom Code

Any automation of configuration management with HPNA required custom code – greatly increasing the investment for each new use case and slowing the adoption of automation across the team.

Post-Merger Tool Sprawl

A merger left the team managing many disparate tools and systems for network infrastructure – making any kind of unified configuration management impossible until the ecosystem itself was consolidated.

You can’t have a different tool for every single job. We had to eliminate the delays created by custom development work to stay ahead of device backups.

Network Engineer

Leading Health Insurance Provider

The migration was not about replacing one config tool with another. It was about consolidating the post-merger toolset and extending configuration management to every device – CLI or API, on-prem or cloud.

Why Itential

Why They Chose Itential for Automated Configuration Management

The Itential Platform offered two key advantages over both HPNA and alternative solutions: integrations and API support that enable configuring any device type, and the ability to automate configuration changes without development expertise. Itential was the only solution that could maintain every byte of data across the HPNA migration while adding the ability to manage every device in the post-merger network. Six capabilities anchored the choice.

A Platform Built to Replace HPNA & Extend Far Beyond It

Six capabilities sat at the center of the decision – together making it possible to retire HPNA without losing data, and to extend configuration management across CLI, API, hybrid cloud, and multi-vendor devices.

Explore the Platform

Seamless HPNA Migration With Data Integrity

Device backup and storage capabilities migrated from HPNA to Itential with the integrity of associated data preserved – the prerequisite for sunsetting a legacy tool in a mission-critical environment.

One App for Backups, Inventory & Changes

A single application to efficiently manage device backups, federate inventory, and automate changes across CLI-based physical devices and API-based cloud networking services – any vendor, any OS.

Golden Configuration Across Multi-Vendor Devices

Hierarchical Golden Configuration trees applied across a multi-vendor, multi-domain network device ecosystem – keeping every device aligned to the same configuration standards without per-device manual work.

Compliance Plans Across CLI & API

Compliance Plans that generate reports across both CLI and API devices – delivering relevant compliance insights directly to the applications and teams that need them.

Automated Remediation in Minutes

Automated remediation of out-of-compliance devices in minutes instead of hours or days – closing the loop on configuration drift before it grows into the next incident.

Integrate-With-Anything, 300+ Open Source Integrations

Itential’s integrate-with-anything approach plus the Marketplace’s 300+ open source integrations – simplifying management across the post-merger technology ecosystem instead of preserving its silos.

The Solution

HPNA Sunsetted, Hybrid Cloud Configuration Unified

The team migrated device backup and storage off HPNA without losing data, then extended Itential as the single configuration platform across every device in the post-merger network – and used the same platform to ship new automation use cases as confidence grew.

Backups Consolidated

Device backup and storage migrated from HPNA to Itential while preserving the integrity of every associated data record – and immediately reducing backup time from hours to minutes across the 2,500+ device estate.

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CLI + API on One Platform

Configuration management extended across CLI-based physical devices and API-managed cloud networking services – every vendor, every OS – on one platform with one set of workflows.

Compliance Plans & Automated Remediation

Compliance Plans across CLI and API devices, plus automated remediation of out-of-compliance devices in minutes – turning configuration drift from a recurring audit problem into a self-healing one.

BGP Reroutes & DHCP Reservations

Once HPNA was retired, the team rapidly shipped new orchestrated workflows – including BGP reroute automation (15 minutes to 53 seconds) and Infoblox DHCP printer reservations (10 minutes to under 10 seconds).

I think that Itential is everything we want to do that HPNA couldn’t do right out-of-the-box.

Senior Network Engineer

Leading Health Insurance Provider

The Outcome

Backups in Minutes, Reroutes in Seconds, HPNA Gone

The migration delivered the headline reduction the team set out for – and the platform underneath it made every subsequent use case faster to ship than the one before.

53s

BGP Reroute Time

Reduced from 15 minutes to 53 seconds – once BGP reroutes were brought under orchestrated workflows on Itential.

<10s

DHCP Reservation Time

Infoblox DHCP printer reservations dropped from 10 minutes to under 10 seconds – a single orchestrated workflow replaces a manual swivel-chair process.

Mins

Device Backup Time

Reduced from hours to minutes across the 2,500+ device estate – config backups now keep pace with a mission-critical, global network.

2,500+

Devices Standardized

Automated config backups across 2,500+ devices and 6+ device types – every device in the multi-vendor network under one platform.

HPNA Sunsetted, Automation Roadmap Just Getting Started

The team now runs dozens of automated use cases on Itential – with a dozen more on the immediate roadmap – and automation has become central to their infrastructure strategy. As their team described it: Itential just works.

What’s Next

The HPNA migration was the first foray into network automation and orchestration – and the platform proved itself fast enough that the team kept building. BGP reroute automation went live shortly after the migration. As confidence grew, the cadence accelerated.

Today, automation runs across dozens of orchestrated use cases that used to be repetitive daily tasks – with a dozen more on the immediate roadmap. Continued focus areas include extending Golden Configuration coverage to more device types, deepening Compliance Plan reporting across the hybrid cloud estate, and treating the orchestration platform itself as central to network change going forward.

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