The Data Center Evolution
The data center has evolved to become a critical part of enterprise infrastructure by hosting critical services, ensuring a secure environment for data, and providing high performance connectivity to users. Data centers are built using a complex mix of network hardware, software overlays, underlays, and controllers that must be managed and secured despite the constant changes required due to enterprise applications and services. This is placing an increased burden on network operations teams to manage the creation of, and ongoing changes associated with, complex and precise configurations. Manual methods of managing network operations are slowing down innovation and inhibiting the network from keeping up with the speed of business. To reach the speed you need, your data center must be agile, and it must be automated.
Automating Data Center Operations
Automating network changes is necessary to meet the demand for faster deployment of applications and services, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of security. Itential uniquely delivers the ability to automate and orchestrate the deployment of any ongoing changes across all your data center technologies and ensure those changes maintain compliance.
Outcomes
Reduce Security Risks
Incorporate automated compliance validation to reduce security risks that may occur as a result of network changes.
Innovate Faster
Quickly create new automations and easily expand existing automations to include new vendors and technology within the data center.
Increase Velocity of Changes
Deploy and manage changes at scale to enable the network team to do much more in much less time.
Enable Self-Service
Enable end users to order applications in a self-service manner and deliver the necessary infrastructure within minutes.
Itential Data Center Automation Use Cases
Streamline Day 0/1 Device Onboarding & Deployment
Zero-touch deployment and provisioning for top-of-rack devices, routers, switches, and software overlays.
VXLAN & BGP-EVPN Deployments
Device Onboarding
Software Upgrades
Service Turn-Up & Turn-Down
Router Provisioning
Simplify Day 2 Change Management
Automation of maintenance windows and configuration changes, including fully automated pre- and post-checks with intelligent analytics.
Software Upgrades
VLAN & Port Changes
Firewall Updates
Load Balancer Updates
DNS Updates
Port Turn Ups
Mitigate Config Drift & Ensure Network Compliance
Automate device backups and bulk configuration changes, standardize all devices configurations with Itential’s Golden Configuration templates and mitigate config drift with automated remediation of configuration on routers and switch fabrics and automations.
Network Configuration Management
Firewall Configuration Management
Port Turn Up Configuration Changes
Orchestrate Across Multi-Domain, Multi-Vendor Networks
Automate network operations across a single domain or extend automation to orchestrate management across multi-domain and multi-vendor networks, integrating with IT systems for full closed-loop network automation and orchestration.
Multi-Domain Orchestration (ITSM, IPAM, etc.)
Enhance & Accelerate Data Center Automation with the Itential Automation Platform
Itential supports multiple southbound options for interacting with the network and data center elements, including Cisco NSO, Ansible, scripting, Terraform, cloud APIs, and SDN controllers; allowing users to automate even the most complex multi-vendor networks. Users can gain greater velocity for their data center deployments by leveraging the capabilities of the Itential Automation Platform as well as our collection of pre-built components, to immediately start implementing automation in their data centers and can dramatically reduce the time normally associated with development, testing, and deployment of automations.
Users can gain greater velocity for their data center management and operations by leveraging the capabilities of Itential’s automation solution such as:
Low-Code Workflow Canvas
Drag-and-drop automation canvas for network engineers and non-programmers to build integrated workflows that enable the automation of any CLI-based network devices and API cloud services.
Configuration Management & Validation
Automate network device and software overlay configurations with Itential’s federated inventory of network CLI devices and API services together for easy visibility and management. Quickly create and manage Golden Configuration templates that can be used to validate changes for compliance against traditional CLI devices and modern API services.
Leverage Existing Automation
Whether it’s using Perl, Python, Ansible, Terraform or any other technology, Itential allows you to take any existing automations and integrate them into Itential’s Automation Platform so they can be augmented with Pre-check and Post-check processes and integrated with any common IT systems like ServiceNow, Infoblox, and Slack.
No-Code Integration with Everything
Integrate operational processes and connect your entire IT ecosystem such as ticketing, change management, inventory, monitoring tools, and any network technology with Itential’s library of open integrations to 100+ systems.
Pre-Built Automations for Data Center Use Cases
Increase the networking team’s productivity right out the gate by leveraging automations from Itential’s growing library of Pre-Built Automations and assets. The library includes many ready-to-run data center automations like software upgrades, EVPN provisioning, and network device changes that can help network teams overcome change backlog and free up more time.
