Copyright © 2022 NetBrain Technologies, Inc. All trademarks referenced herein belong to NetBrain Technologies, Inc WHITEPAPER Level 0: Manual Processes for everything Level 0 is purely manual. It is commonly based on using element management interfaces such as the CLI, to execute manual operational tasks and is entirely reliant on the operator or engineer’s individual skills and personal experience. There are no protections nor guidance and task execution is inconsistent from operator to operator and from day to day. All provisioning, configuration, and updating of network devices is done manually, and often under pressure without suitable checks and balances to assure desired results. Worse yet, in many cases the NetOps teams are in a virtual state of “firefighting” problems as they arise and the chance of making sometimes catastrophic errors is high. Many of the world’s most high-profile outages in recent years can be directly traced back to human error associated with manual network operations. Level 0 should be considered the baseline for most organizations today and it is the state of network operations that supports their business. How do executable Level 1: Leveraging smarter tools Interactively Runbooks work? Level 1 or “Interactive” is the first step in the network automation journey. Think of this level as the guided level of network automation. Engineers and operators can still interact with the READ HOW infrastructure components individually, but they do so using an intelligent platform that understands the underlying infrastructure in minute detail. Every device, platform and technology are fully enumerated, and the presented management interface provides the context for successful operational tasks. The platform knows the boundaries of what is possible and prevents operators or engineers from making changes that will results in unpredictable or unexpected results. It also allows engineers and operators to capture their own expertise into reusable automation routines or ‘runbooks’. Level 1 offers guardrails for any operator or engineer to make informed decisions based on network real-time status and allows experience and expertise to be shared. The NetBrain visual console platform makes this all possible. As networks have gotten larger and more complex, the management interface needs to become more intelligent, especially as networks incorporate technologies like SDN, SD-WAN, and public cloud. NetBrain not only provides end-to-end visibility across hybrid networks, but also the ability to drill down into each segment and isolate network issues on a Dynamic Map that can be updated in real- time. And the context it brings enables the platform itself to guide the operator or engineer to help them make informed decisions and execute tasks with a high degree of confidence. This greatly accelerates problem identification and resolution. The Definitive Guide to Network Automation | 3