Progressing Network Automation & Why AutoCon0 Matters
With the Network Automation Forum’s flagship event AutoCon0 just a week away, now is a perfect opportunity to discuss network automation, its evolution, and why an event like this is so timely.
Why haven’t we seen full adoption of network automation yet?
This question is the central theme of AutoCon0. In my opinion, the technology is already available for a rapid, large-scale evolution in terms of our industry’s approach to network automation. But the fact remains — it’s yet to happen, and it’s time to evolve.
So, in looking ahead to how AutoCon0 can help us to progress toward answering this question, I sat down for a conversation with our head of product management and all things network automation guru — Peter Sprygada. We dove into the current state of network automation, what he’s hoping to see and learn at AutoCon0, and what individuals can do to contribute to the evolution of network automation.
Can you talk about your thoughts on the current state of network automation generally? Successes, challenges, current impact?
Network automation continues to progress along a path that finds incremental wins within a variety of different teams. However, as more and more organizations embark on their network automation journeys, there tends to be a constant start-stop motion due to a variety of external factors.
Current firefighting, DIY vs COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) debates, common network models, and the debate over centralized vs decentralized source of truth are all impediments that continue to plague organizations’ ability to holistically embrace organization wide strategies around network automation.
?There is also still a very significant faction of the industry that questions the viability of network automation’s impact to the overall efficiency of infrastructure operations. From engineers who would rather embrace the CLI, to an inability to move off of bespoke device configurations, network automation still has some people to win over.
And what about the teams that are finding success? Or is everyone getting stuck?
No, not at all. All of that said, there has definitely been significant traction with teams that have committed to their own automation journeys, instead of getting caught up in endless debates over process. By staying focused on achievable use cases and avoiding “boil the ocean” strategies, organizations are gaining newfound benefits by leveraging network automation.
Of course, there is still much to do. By many metrics, network automation is still very much in the nascent stages of the technology adoption lifecycle. I suspect we will continue to see a fair amount of innovation coming from all ends of the spectrum.
Why do you think we haven’t yet seen full adoption of network automation? Is there an easy answer? Technical reasons, cultural, something else?
There is no one thing that is holding the industry back from full adoption of network automation. But, to drill down, I don’t believe that the problem is a technical one, especially not anymore. It definitely seems to have shifted to more of a cultural challenge.
In my experience, there is still too much emphasis placed on the approach to network automation, as opposed to the practice of network automation. Getting into never-ending academic squabbles about sources of truth, or DIY vs COTS, or anything else doesn’t bring you any closer to full-fledged adoption. And this is happening across the industry.
?Instead of getting caught up in perfecting an approach, I think we as an industry need to stay closer to the use cases and understand what does work and what doesn’t. For those things that don’t work, why not? Is it a skills gap? An approach gap? We have drifted a little too far away from the use cases and found ourselves caught up in the implementations.
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And how do you see network automation evolving going forward?
If only I had that magic crystal ball to show me the way.
Personally, I believe there will continue to be more and more DIY, or FOSS, network automation projects that will be announced. The industry still seems mostly jaded towards COTS implementations and vendor solutions.
There will also be a renewed (or continued, depending on your perspective) push towards integrating configuration with network state. Pushing configuration changes to a network device isn’t hard; however, validating that the network is operating as intended still feels a little bit out of our grasp. I believe there will be much more work in this area.
Finally, I believe that cloud will continue to create more and more headwinds with regards to the advancement of network automation. Application development teams continue to find new and creative ways to circumvent the sluggish pace of current self-service networking. The rise of Network as a Service options is a real deterrent against building large-scale infrastructure for organizations that are fully committed to the cloud.
So looking at these possible evolutions, how might network practitioners, engineers, and architects want to think about network automation to help advance their approach?
Like I’ve said, I think the critical piece is simply focusing on the use case and what exactly you are trying to solve. I have witnessed far too many teams start with very good intentions, and even a nicely defined, achievable scope around network automation — only to be sidetracked by implementation details and debates that are mostly meaningless in the long run.
Everything doesn’t have to be perfect up front to start automating. That’s the part many teams and practitioners seem to overlook. If you leverage a feedback-based way of doing things, consistently reevaluating and reassessing progress, you can make the necessary course corrections as you go. I believe that will unlock the key to advancing automation efforts.
Looking Ahead: AutoCon0 & Beyond
As we get closer to November 13th, I’m looking forward hearing from individuals and teams about their network automation journeys — challenges, successes, and takeaways for everyone. I see this event as a catalyst for action, where we can come together, learn a lot, and then take it all back with us to kickstart an evolution for network automation. There is so much room for our industry to grow and evolve - the technologies, the tools and platforms that enable this evolution are out there already — now it’s on all of us to keep moving forward.
If you are attending the event , make sure to stop by our booth or chat with our team – we’d love to hear about your automation journey.
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