Network Automation with a Single Source of Truth in a Heterogeneous Environment

Abstract

The unprecedented growth of data and network traffic has steadily increased the complexity of management and operations in data centers. This poses many challenges since resources have to be managed flawlessly and efficiently while satisfying many operational constraints. In this article we propose a scheme for network automation in a heterogeneous environment with a single source of truth. We demonstrate the applicability of such a scheme to provision L2/L3 Virtual Private Network services involving several devices in a typical Spine-Leaf architecture. The devices are initiated in a Zero-Touch Provisioning scenario, form an underlay network and communicate with each other through eBGP protocol. The proposed solution utilizes open source tools and technologies such as Ansible for the automation process and NetBox as the only source of truth for configuration data. Our experiment with three types of devices in a typical network scenario shows that the proposed scheme has achieved the targeted automation goal by reducing the required provisioning time by 70%-92%. The results also indicate a clear benefit compared to manually provisioned systems.