Power up your NetOps Support Framework for SREs with ONES Innovation

In today's interconnected world, Network Operations (NetOps) Support Framework is crucial for organizations to maintain a robust and reliable network infrastructure. It provides the foundation to manage and optimize network performance, ensure seamless connectivity, and address other related issues. In this post, we bring you an overview of NetOps Support Frameworks, their key components, and significance in maintaining efficient operations. We also talk about SLAs and their benefits in NetOps Support Framework.

Components of NetOps Support Frameworks

1. Network Monitoring and Management

• Real-time monitoring of network devices and traffic
• Performance analysis and reporting
• Configuration management and compliance
• Network inventory and asset management

The next-generation management tools offer extensions for supporting advanced functions that include:

• Network Orchestration
• Streaming Telemetry

Network Orchestration and Telemetry Streaming work together to enable the automation, control, and visibility of network operations while leveraging real-time telemetry data for enhanced network management and analysis. Let’s understand these functions in detail.

Network Orchestration

Telemetry Streaming

2. Fault Management and Troubleshooting

• Rapid detection and isolation of network issues
• Root cause analysis and remediation
• Incident management and escalation processes

3. Change Management and Configuration

• Control and coordination of network changes
• Version control and documentation
• Change approval processes and tracking

4. Performance Optimization

• Capacity planning and bandwidth management
• Quality of Service (QoS) implementation
• Traffic engineering and optimization
• Proactive network optimization strategies

5. Security and Compliance

• Network security monitoring and threat detection
• Firewall management and access control
• Compliance with industry regulations (for example PCI-DSS, GDPR)
• Vulnerability assessment and patch management

Supporting Multi-Vendor NOS and Switch Hardware

1. Consolidated monitoring of dashboards for heterogeneous network devices
2. Integration with various NOS APIs for unified device management
3. Leveraging standardized protocols (for example SNMP, NETCONF, RESTful APIs) for device communication
4. Managing and troubleshooting cross-vendor faults: ????

• Correlation of alerts and events from different NOS vendors
• Centralized incident management and ticketing system
• Collaboration with vendor support teams for issue resolution

5. Change management and configuration:

• Standardized configuration templates for different NOS vendors
• Integration with configuration management databases (CMDB)
• Change tracking and rollback mechanisms for multi-vendor environments

6. Performance optimization and traffic engineering:

• Bandwidth allocation and optimization across diverse NOS platforms
• QoS implementation for consistent performance across vendors
• Traffic engineering strategies for load balancing and optimization

Importance of Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Therefore, these play a vital role in ensuring that the network meets desired service levels and provides a satisfactory user experience. Let’s deep dive into more details:?

1. KPIs: SLAs outline multiple KPIs such as network availability, packet loss, latency, throughput, and response times. By benchmarking the metrics, SLAs provide a quantifiable means for evaluating the performance of network infrastructure as well as service provider.?
2. Network Availability: SLAs specify the expected level of network availability, typically expressed as a percentage of uptime over a given period. This metric indicates how often the network should be operational and accessible to users. It also ensures the accountability of a network service provider for maintaining a reliable and continuously available network infrastructure.
3. Response and Resolution Times: SLAs often include response and resolution time commitments for network incidents or service requests. The response time defines how quickly the service provider should acknowledge and respond to reported issues. The resolution time sets expectations about the time required to restore the network service to its normal functioning state.
4. Downtime and Maintenance Windows: Another benefit of such agreements is the provision for scheduled maintenance windows during which network services may be unavailable temporarily. By establishing a clear schedule and notifying customers in advance, SLAs help manage expectations and minimize service disruptions.
5. Escalation Procedures: SLAs outline escalation procedures to follow in case of critical incidents or service disruptions. This ensures that prompt actions are taken to address the issue and involve higher-level support or management, if necessary.
6. Remedies and Compensation: SLAs include provisions for remedies in the form of service credits, discounts, or other types of compensation to mitigate the impact of service disruptions/failures caused by the service providers.
7. Reporting and Review: Lastly, these agreements usually include reporting mechanisms to track and communicate network performance against the agreed-upon metrics. Regular performance reports and service reviews enable both parties to assess the network's performance, identify areas for improvement, and ensure transparency and accountability.

Benefits of SLAs in NetOps Support

1. Improved Operational Efficiency: a.??Streamlined management processes for diverse NOS platforms b.??Reduced complexity and overhead associated with managing multiple vendors c.??Centralized visibility and control over the entire network infrastructure?????????
2. Enhanced Network Resilience and Performance: a.??Rapid fault detection and resolution across different NOS environments b.??Optimal utilization of network resources through unified performance optimization strategies c.??Consistent security measures and compliance enforcement across vendors???????????????
3. Customer Satisfaction and Business Continuity: a.??Adherence to SLAs for ensuring service reliability and customer satisfaction b.??Minimized downtime and faster incident resolution through SLA-driven support processes c.??Risk mitigation associated with multi-vendor environments?????????

Introducing ONES (Open Networking Enterprise Suite)

ONES provides a one-stop solution, right from providing better visibility into your data center networks to extending 24x7 support function for SONiC. It also hosts a powerful analytics engine that provides Proactive, Predictive, and Prescriptive Analysis of common network anomalies and disruptions.

The key capabilities of ONES include:

1. Purpose-built solution for SONiC deployments
2. Supports multiple NOS for comprehensive visibility
3. Orchestration and deep telemetry for observability
4. 24x7 enterprise-grade support options for SONiC

ONES - Value and Beyond

Monitor your entire multi-NOS fabric

Configure your SONiC fabric with ease

NetOps Simplified

Traditional Network Orchestration tools have evolved from delivering and monitoring network functions for proprietary NOS to designing and building network fabrics in an automated and intent-based approach.

ONES takes the Orchestration journey to the next level—adding capabilities from SONiC NOS across a fleet of multi-vendor and multi-ASIC switches. This includes streaming telemetry, API programmability, network control, intent-based fabric configuration, and SLA assurance for supportability.

There are 3 parts to Support SLA:

• Initial Response Time: 30 to 60 mins based on severity.
• Resolution Time (Solution or Workaround/Mitigating Action): 4 to 72 business hours based on severity.
• Root Cause Analysis (RCA): 14 business days across all severities.

Predictive failure/health analytics and capacity planning enable Orchestration tools (like ONES) to provide a seamless adoption journey for SONiC. This is achieved by leveraging historical trends of resource utilization, traffic patterns, logs/events, and derived application/workload performance.

Supportability, a crucial feature of Network Orchestration tools, goes beyond just notifying and alerting. It also enables integration with IT tools/engine to check anomalies or events correlation using real-time or historical data, single-touch management, and in turn, simplify switch/fabric onboarding for scale.

With the rapid adoption of open-source SONiC, ONES has emerged as a one-stop solution for network infrastructure teams. It seamlessly enables orchestration, deep telemetry, and assurance for multi-vendor deployments. Most importantly, the 24x7 SRE support enables them to introduce SONiC in their networks with utmost confidence.

Author: Yasser M