Whether you’re considering investing in network automation for the first time or already have it, there are several different uses for automation tools. These can range from ensuring that devices are configured and deployed to improving wireless airtime availability.

Configuring and deploying your devices

Whether you’re setting up a new network, a new app, or updating a device’s configuration, you can use network automation tools to reduce errors, speed up your process, and improve the quality of your network. And while automation can help you automate network operations, it’s important to remember that even powerful tools can only succeed if appropriately used.

There are two main ways to configure and deploy your devices with network automation: scripts and GUI-based software. Script-based automation requires you to have programming knowledge and write scripts. Meanwhile, GUI-based automation relies heavily on the APIs of your network devices. The benefit of GUI-based automation is that it eliminates the need to write scripts and code.

To automate a network configuration, first, you need to create workflows. Once these are set up, you can assign these workflows to a network automation platform. The platform can run your workflows in bulk when it is ready to deploy the configuration. You can also configure the platform to have failover conditions, which can automatically notify you if a network device goes down.

Network automation is also used to scale and maintain your infrastructure. It helps you keep your network in line with security measures, keep track of your resources, and detect any deviations. It can also scale the number of devices in your network.

A cloud-based provisioning platform can automate the entire provisioning process. It can perform IP address assignments, DNS configuration, and DHCP configuration. It can also programmatically retrieve real-time information from large groups of devices. It can also automate the dynamic deployment of applications. It can even automate the rollout of new services.

Optimizing Wireless Airtime Availability

Optimal wireless airtime availability is achieved by having a complete view of the network, which means monitoring and optimizing the entire network. A vital component of a network optimization strategy is utilizing real-time analytics to provide IT with crucial information about the network’s performance. A complete understanding of the network’s status will allow teams to be more flexible in their approach to new technologies.

The most obvious way to optimize a wireless network is by reducing interference. This may mean reducing underused resources during low usage hours or disabling legacy wireless standards to improve performance.

There are other ways to achieve the multi-tasking effect, however. A more advanced solution will analyze meta-data, provide recommendations to the network operations team, and close the loop with remedial actions based on the recommendations.

Another way to get the most out of your network is to implement an AI-enhanced RRM (radio resource management) solution. This solution incorporates several heuristics and modern data models to make configuration recommendations to optimize the network. This will save time and money and provide network operators with a more comprehensive view of the network’s health.

Using a self-organizing network will not only optimize your wireless airtime availability but also increase your service levels’ reliability. It will do so by auto-scheduling the available airtime based on the current state of your private spectrum. This is done by analyzing your site’s RF signal level and power density. It also enables you to monitor and troubleshoot issues remotely.

In the end, automation is a cornerstone strategy for many service providers. It will enable IT, teams to reduce human error, streamline operations, and increase uptime.

Pipelines and Network Automation Tools 

Using the best network automation and orchestration tools, you can achieve your security, networking, and cloud computing goals while saving money, preventing downtime, and improving scalability. The best tools can save you money by automating tasks and freeing up time for your team to do more important things. They are also helpful in avoiding network outages and downtime, ensuring your servers are up and running, and identifying suspicious behavior. They also come in handy if you need to retask existing network teams or scale up to support more users or traffic. You can even use them to automate your backup and disaster recovery plans. The trick is to select the best network monitoring and management tools for your specific needs. Thankfully, there are many tools available on the market to choose from. The best ones are ranked by name, and your team can pick and choose the proper network monitoring and management tools for your needs.

The Need for Separation of Control and Data Planes

Keeping control and data planes on the same device creates a single point of failure. Keeping them separated enables devices to focus on forwarding traffic. The result is a more resilient system.

With the increased complexity of networks, the amount of processing needed for each packet has increased exponentially. This creates upward pressure on hardware component costs. The need for separating control and data planes in network automation has emerged as a response to this need.

To make network automation functional, several technologies and techniques are used. For example, software running on switches can communicate with peers to construct a local routing table. The routing table includes policy constraints and alternative paths. The control plane makes decisions based on these policies.

Similarly, the data plane implements the network behavior on individual packets. It maintains a forwarding table that is optimized for fast packet processing. It also acts on the forwarding decisions made by the control plane.

Keeping the control and data planes on the same device limits network engineers’ ability to customize traffic flows. This is especially true in interpreted environments, where latency can be an issue. However, keeping them separate is possible in some environments. Using a cloud-hosted controller is an example of this approach.

The need for separation of control and data planes is a crucial feature of Software-defined Networking (SDN). It is an evolution of networking architecture, commonly known as the Internet. SDN is less complex than the current paradigm but requires multiple versions of software to be implemented.

Traditionally, network elements have been managed on a device-by-device basis. This could be better in specific environments, such as data centers, where packet forwarding is critical. For this reason, researchers explored clean-slate architectures for logically centralized control.