Packet Pushers: Evolving from Python to Platforms for Network Automation

Network automation is going through an evolution right now. Most network engineers have built a set of scripts or playbooks that solve some problems but have NOT productized the solution. For most, automations likely save you some time and reduce human error but aren’t the sort of things you can package up and turn the rest of the organization loose with. All you’ve really done is build macros.

Macros are not the end game of network automation.

The end game is self-service. An automation platform where network consumers can request the services they need and get them when they need them. An automation platform that has governance – the checks and balances – around what is being requested, such that you know the consumer is getting what they need without being fearful they’ll blow the whole thing up.

What We Discuss in this Heavy Networking Episode

Itential’s CTO, Chris Wade joins the Packet Pushers Podcast team to discuss how Itential’s network automation platform allows you to take your existing automation work and build a system around it. The system you might build yourself if you were a full-time developer or had a dev team at your disposal. But you aren’t, and you don’t.

Chris, Ethan, and Drew dive into:

• The components of a platform for network automation.
• Why a platform approach is better than scripts on your laptop.
• The difference between network automation and orchestration and how Itential’s products support each.
• How Itential Automation Gateway operationalizes scripts for securing and sharing so you can go from macros to productized solutions.
• How the Itential Automation Platform scales automation by stitching together scripts and integrating with external systems via APIs for end-to-end workflows.
• How Itential supports use cases from turning up a new port via scripts to delivering a self-service catalogue of networking services to end users.
• The thought process and strategy behind safe, effective self-service automation — standardization, ease of consumption, and more.
• Delivering quick wins with Itential automation.
• How to test drive Itential’s products.

How Itential Helps You Productize Your Scripts & Scale Network Automation

Itential’s products were built with your network in mind. We believe scaling network automation starts with a solution that isn’t fragile and that everyone in your organization can rally around and use. A solution that integrates with the systems you already have. That doesn’t make you get rid of your investment in scripts and playbooks, but helps you bring them under control.

Our products meet you where you are, leveraging what you have and helps you scale automation to meet the needs of your business, making infrastructure easy to consume, delivered as a service, and making automation practical to implement.