{"id":33045,"date":"2022-12-13T21:38:51","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T21:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zpesystems.com\/?p=33045"},"modified":"2024-08-12T15:06:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T22:06:09","slug":"a-guide-to-infrastructure-orchestration-and-automation-zps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zpesystems.com\/a-guide-to-infrastructure-orchestration-and-automation-zps\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to Infrastructure Orchestration and Automation"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/zpesystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/infrastructure-orchestration-and-automation.jpg” alt=”infrastructure orchestration and automation” title_text=”infrastructure orchestration and automation” _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]As the recession continues to affect businesses across all industries, enterprise network resilience has never been more critical. The typical outage costs at least $100,000<\/a>\u2014a price tag that most companies can\u2019t easily absorb in the current economic climate. However, decreasing business revenues have caused many companies, especially in the tech industry, to lay off large portions of their key IT staff. That means there are fewer administrators to monitor and manage network infrastructure and fewer engineers available to respond to issues and recover from outages.<\/p>\n

Network automation is the key to ensuring 24\/7 availability and optimal performance with less human interaction. A network automation framework provides all the tools and guidance needed to create a fully-automated network infrastructure that\u2019s resilient to failure.<\/p>\n

The four building blocks of a resilient network automation framework<\/a> include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. IT\/OT production infrastructure<\/li>\n
  2. Automation infrastructure<\/li>\n
  3. Orchestration infrastructure<\/li>\n
  4. AIOps<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In previous blogs we discussed the role of IT\/OT production infrastructure in network automation and how an IT\/OT convergence strategy accelerates network automation. We also described the automation infrastructure components that enable end-to-end network automation. In this post, we\u2019ll explain how infrastructure orchestration and automation build upon the previous two layers to enable streamlined, hyperautomated network resiliency. Our final blog in the series will conclude with a guide to using AIOps and other machine learning technologies to complete the network automation framework.<\/p>\n

    What is infrastructure orchestration and automation?<\/h2>\n

    The infrastructure orchestration and automation layer contains the tools and paradigms used to efficiently manage and control that automation. The core components of infrastructure orchestration and automation include:<\/p>\n

    Version control<\/h3>\n

    The automation infrastructure layer uses infrastructure as code (IaC) to decouple device configurations from the underlying hardware so they can be written as scripts or definition files that automatically provision network resources. In addition, this layer uses software-defined networking (SDN) to create a virtual control plane that overlays the production network infrastructure, allowing network management and optimization tasks to be written as automated scripts.<\/p>\n

    The goal of IaC and SDN is to reduce human error, speed up device provisioning, and build a more streamlined and resilient network infrastructure. However, IaC and SDN programming can be very complex, and not all sysadmins and network administrators are expert coders. In addition, an automated enterprise network has hundreds or even thousands of these definition files and scripts to store, manage, and deploy.<\/p>\n

    This is why a network automation framework should include version control in the orchestration and automation layer. Version control is a very familiar concept to programmers, especially in DevOps environments, but not all network and infrastructure teams have used it before. Version control involves storing all code in a centralized repository and then tracking and managing changes to that code.<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s say one administrator is responsible for configuring and maintaining the IaC definition file used to provision a particular model of Meraki AP. Here are some examples of how that workflow could break down when that one admin is out of the office for an extended period of time due to COVID-19 or gets laid off due to cutbacks in the organization:<\/p>\n