Heavy Networking 591: Want Network Automation? Start With Compliance And Validation (Sponsored)

In the old days, you’d download your configs each night with some tool, and then get a report with diffs. You’d stare at the diffs, and go, “Hmm, yep, that seems right. I remember there was a change control that was scheduled to happen, and I even think the new config has something to do with the change. Network is still up. I’m sure it’s fine. Good job, everyone.” And then you’d get on with your inbox. That…sort of works as long as there’s a limited number of device types and limited number of changes on your network, and you care enough to pay attention. Of course, now you’re trying to automate and let the machines handle as much as possible. You really, really haven’t been checking those diffs, and don’t have much idea of where the configs are at. You want to bring everything back into compliance. In fact, you NEED to bring it all back into compliance. It’s the wild, wild west out there. And that’s just the legacy gear. We haven’t even mentioned all these cloudy VNFs with API hooks you keep having to stand up and manage. Our sponsor today is Itential, and we’re going to have a discussion about network compliance. The big idea is to rethink how you do compliance so that the process is automation friendly and accommodates all the network device types you have to manage. Our guest is Chris Wade, CTO at Itential. Show Links: Itential.com/packetpushers