Change Management w/ Intent

SOLUTION BRIEF Automate Network Change Management with Intent In today’s fast-paced world, change is inevitable. In the networking business, advances in ® technologies causes new devices to replace older ones, software updates continuously occur for nearly every component, new applications are introduced to support the business, companies merge, and corporate sites are added or removed as business plans change. All of this results in hybrid network infrastructures that are more expansive and complex than ever before and even the smallest change can have unforeseen and, in some cases, disastrous effects. Add to this the pace at which IT now operates and it’s no NetBrain PDAS Change Management surprise that the demand for robust, bet-your-business change management has grown dramatically over the Part of its PDA System, NetBrain’s Intent-Based Change last few years. Change windows are short and making Management capabilities go far beyond traditional changes to anything in an infrastructure is now a change management solutions by focusing on the mission-critical process. Even successful device-level performance of the network caused by changing changes using traditional approaches can result in individual devices. unintended consequences. The result is usually extended periods of unplanned downtime. NetBrain change management encompasses 5 stages that ensure network changes don’t negatively impact According to Uptime Institute, more than 70% of all data the network, its supported applications, or cause center outages are caused by human error; either other outages. incorrectly applied changes, or changes that were applied 1. Define the desired change and the network intents correctly but for some reason not what was intended. This is in contrast to what most people assume is the main 2. Benchmark/Baseline the network based on the cause of outages - hardware or software failures. intended performance goals 3. Execute the change and verify it has been completed NetBrain keeps you highly informed on how your changes 4. Benchmark the performance and verify design will impact the production network, reducing risk and cost compliance to network intents through intent-based network automation. Intents allow 5. Compare the resulting performance versus the you to verify network changes with network design and original benchmark to support acceptance policies both before and after you execute every change.