More and more, clients ask me about Community as Code and Cisco Companies as Code.
Whereas community automation is much more essential within the AI period, there’s additionally a variety of fantasy, confusion, and a recurring query: “We’ve already been automating community operations with Scripts, APIs, Controller GUIs, Terraform suppliers, and Ansible playbooks… what’s new and totally different about Community as Code (NaC)?”
Let’s discover these questions, ranging from the fundamentals: what’s Community as Code?
Community as Code is a technique that applies DevOps rules to community administration, via declarative information fashions, permitting groups to automate and handle community configurations via YAML recordsdata.
However, how did we get right here and why is that this the popular methodology for community automation?
The Evolution of Community Automation
In the event you’ve ever wrestled with a notepad filled with swap configs or discovered your self knee-deep in Python scripts at midnight, you’ll recognize simply how far we’ve come.
Wave 1: The Nostalgia Period (Guide CLI & Primary Templating)
Within the early days, community configuration was all concerning the command-line interface (CLI). All the things was written in clear, human-readable textual content, which meant you possibly can all the time see precisely what was happening-provided you possibly can preserve your eyes open after hours of scrolling.
Templates have been typically managed utilizing Notepad or one other fundamental textual content editor, and if you happen to have been actually organized, you had a centralized folder someplace – most likely named “final-final-configs” – for reuse.
Whereas this strategy was easy and simple, it relied closely on handbook effort and was liable to errors.
Wave 2: The Scripting Renaissance (Programmatic CLI)
As networks grew extra complicated, engineers began leveraging scripting languages like Python (with libraries akin to Netmiko and Paramiko), and templating engines (Jinga) to automate repetitive CLI duties.
This marked the period when community engineers turned part-time coders, writing scripts to avoid wasting time and scale back errors.
It was a giant leap ahead, nevertheless it additionally meant you wanted to maintain your coding abilities sharp – and bear in mind which script did what, and the place you left the most recent model.
Wave 3: The API-Pushed Period (Controllers & SDKs)
Then got here the controllers, ushering in a brand new period the place handbook CLI instructions could possibly be changed with intuitive interfaces and centralized administration. The complexity of direct CLI configurations started to fade, changed by programmable interfaces akin to REST APIs, NETCONF and more and more gRPC, that are broadly adopted for his or her effectivity and adaptability in managing and automating methods. Software program improvement kits (SDKs) made programmability simpler, serving to community groups keep away from the fatigue of limitless API calls.
This wave centered on abstracting direct machine interplay, permitting for centralized administration and extra refined programmatic management. Whereas the problem of CLI configuration is eradicated, the duplication of funding and snowflakes have been unavoidable.
Wave 4: Infrastructure as Code (IaC) & Cloud-Native Networking
This wave noticed the broader adoption of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) rules, pushed considerably by the rise of cloud computing. Instruments like Terraform and Ansible (for infrastructure provisioning) have been used to outline and handle community infrastructure alongside compute and storage, significantly in cloud environments.
The main focus shifted to declaring the desired state of the complete infrastructure, with model management and automatic deployment changing into commonplace. This wasn’t nearly community gadgets, however the community as a part of a bigger, codified infrastructure.
Wave 5: Declarative Community as Code (NaC) and Intent-Primarily based Operations
That is the present and evolving wave, representing the maturity and specialization of declarative rules for the community area. It strikes past generic IaC to give attention to high-level community intent, leveraging simplified information fashions (in YAML) and a library of modular, expertly crafted elements. This wave emphasizes abstracting complicated orchestration particulars, permitting engineers to outline the specified state of their community infrastructure, fairly than the step-by-step instructions. There’s now not a requirement for each administrator to be a programmer; As a substitute, area SMEs merely render variables into these modules to automate duties. Consistency, effectivity, and high quality are baked in by design. This wave sees GitOps rules turn into central for managing community configurations, making certain a single supply of fact and enabling strong CI/CD. Moreover, seamless integration with IT Service Administration (ITSM) methods turns into a normal follow for change administration. This strategy brings consistency, effectivity, and high quality by design, empowering groups to handle their networks with the identical rigor and agility as software program improvement. Even these with minimal programming background can obtain spectacular automation outcomes, which means the Community architects can focus extra on core Community design and ideas.
Community as Code
The times of each workforce constructing their very own ‘snowflake’ automation are over. Community as Code (NaC) represents the maturity of declarative rules for community administration, permitting engineers to outline the specified state of their community infrastructure fairly than specializing in intricate particulars like dependencies, references, or looping logic. With an easy-to-use, opinionated information mannequin and a library of examined, maintained modules, you possibly can spin up whole community materials in minutes, just by describing their supposed configuration in easy textual content, without having deep API or object mannequin data.
Central to NaC is the adoption of GitOps rules. This implies community configurations are version-controlled in a Git repository, serving as the one supply of fact. Modifications are proposed through pull requests, reviewed, after which routinely deployed and synchronized with the reside community, enabling strong CI/CD pipelines. This ensures that the community’s precise state constantly matches the declared state in Git. Moreover, NaC facilitates seamless integration with IT Service Administration (ITSM) methods. This ensures that each one community modifications are tracked, accredited, and managed inside present operational workflows, enhancing governance, compliance, and auditability. This holistic strategy brings consistency, effectivity, and high quality by design, empowering groups to handle their networks with the identical rigor and agility as software program improvement.
Whereas NaC is an open-source methodology that permits for Do It Your self(DIY) automation, implementing its full framework and methodologies might be complicated. That is the place Cisco steps in to speed up your journey.
Going past with Companies as Code
Cisco Companies as Code is obtainable via Cisco Skilled Companies, providing a complete resolution that encompasses the complete lifecycle of community service supply. This contains readiness assessments, individuals/course of enablement, resolution setup, brownfield import, steady integration and deployment (CI/CD), automated testing, validation, launch administration, and 24×7 assist. It integrates DevSecOps practices and supplies a framework to handle community infrastructure modifications with excessive accuracy, scalability, and operational effectivity.
A essential differentiator of Cisco Companies as Code is its strong, built-in Check and Validation framework. In contrast to ad-hoc testing typically present in DIY automation or market options, our service supplies a scientific and complete strategy to make sure community modifications are totally verified earlier than and after deployment. This contains automated syntax checks for configuration correctness, semantic validation and checks each configured object towards the supposed configuration. This complete, steady validation, built-in all through the CI/CD pipeline, considerably reduces the danger of errors, minimizes community downtime, and ensures that modifications constantly meet operational and compliance requirements. It’s this assurance of high quality, reliability, and safety, baked into the service, that actually units Cisco Companies as Code aside, offering peace of thoughts and operational excellence that goes past merely automating configurations.
Moreover, we lately launched the combination of Cisco AI Assistant with Companies as Code, additional simplifying infrastructure administration with pure language inputs.
So there you’ve got it; Community as Code and Companies as Code defined – and hopefully demystified. Tell us within the feedback what high of thoughts questions you need us to cowl subsequent.
And right here’s my ‘additional studying’ suggestions on the subject, written by our Precept Architects and Distinguished Engineers.
