Effectively deploying automation requires understanding which workflows can and should be automated and analyzing your team’s scripting knowledge and automation expertise. Some extremely complicated tools can make network automation an even more significant burden than manual workloads. This post examines the best network automation tools for some of the most commonly automated workflows and discusses the overall skill level required for each one.
The best network automation tools – and what to use them for
Any network management workflow involving repetitive, tedious tasks is a potential candidate for automation. Many organizations start their automation journey by going after the low-hanging fruit: the most common, repetitive workflows that don’t require much human creativity. These tasks tend to fall into one of the following categories.
| Network Automation Workflow | Description | Example Tools | ||
| Beginner | Intermediate | Advanced | ||
| Network configuration management | Creating, deploying, and maintaining network device configurations. | ZPE Systems Nodegrid ZTP | Gluware | RedHat Ansible |
| Monitoring & incident management | Collecting and analyzing network logs and generating service desk incidents. | Paessler PRTG | SolarWinds | BigPanda AIOps |
| Network security monitoring | Inspecting network traffic and logs for suspicious activity that could indicate a breach. | Palo Alto Networks Cortex | CrowdStrike AI Monitoring | |
| Software-defined networking | Abstracting network control functions into software code decoupled from the underlying infrastructure. |
Juniper Networks SDN Palo Alto Prisma SD-WAN |
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How many and which workflows to automate within each of these categories will heavily depend on your team’s scripting knowledge and automation experience. Let’s discuss the best network automation tools for each category and skill level.
Disclaimer: This comparison was written by a 3rd party in collaboration with ZPE Systems using data gathered from publicly available data sheets and admin guides, as of 9/29/2023.
Please email us if you have corrections or edits, or want to review additional attributes: Matrix@zpesystems.com
Network configuration management
Network configuration management involves creating, deploying, and maintaining network device configurations. When handled manually, it tends to be very time-consuming due to the sheer number of devices and the complexity of modern networking logic. Each configuration needs to be typed in or copied & pasted, manual processes that are tedious and prone to errors. However, the repetitive nature of network configuration management makes it the perfect candidate for automation.
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Zero-touch provisioning (ZTP): Automated device configuration for beginners
Zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), a.k.a. zero-touch deployment, automates the initial provisioning process using software scripts or definition files to configure new network devices automatically. A non-technical end user simply plugs in the device’s power and networking, and then the device automatically downloads its configuration from a centralized repository via DHCP or the cloud. Creating the definition files takes some scripting know-how, but they’re often simple enough for beginners to learn in a short time. There are some limitations, namely that it tends to be device-specific with a lack of interoperability and centralized orchestration. Vendor-neutral network automation tools like ZPE Systems’ Nodegrid mitigate these limitations by extending ZTP to legacy, mixed-vendor devices and unifying ZTP management with a single, centralized, cloud-based or on-premises platform.
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Automated network configuration management: Configuration deployment, monitoring, and updates for intermediate and advanced teams
Automated network configuration management tools handle more than just deployments. They continuously monitor in-place configurations to ensure they don’t drift away from documented standards and, when necessary, install updates or roll back any unauthorized changes. Automated configuration management reduces the risk of a mistake or undocumented tweak introducing an unnoticed security vulnerability. It also ensures that critical updates or patches are installed swiftly and efficiently. Automated network configuration management tools like SolarWinds NCM typically come with a steep learning curve because of the amount of coding and scripting involved. A no-code network automation tool like Gluware reduces the difficulty by allowing teams to create and manage configurations with a GUI instead.
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DevOps configuration management: Eliminating barriers between network, development, and operations teams
Many organizations have embraced the DevOps methodology, which aims to increase efficiency by eliminating barriers between software development and IT operations teams. DevOps infrastructure teams often use automated configuration management tools like RedHat Ansible to provision and manage resources at the speed required for agile software development projects. Some of these tools can also be used for network configurations, saving organizations from purchasing multiple solutions from multiple vendors. Using a common tool for infrastructure and networking makes it possible for sysadmins to train network admins and vice versa, which can help flatten the learning curve a little bit. It also significantly improves cross-team collaboration and allows network teams to support development initiatives better so the organization evolves from DevOps to NetDevOps.
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Key Takeaways |
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Monitoring & incident management
Network monitoring involves collecting logs from various network devices and services and analyzing them for signs of trouble. Automated network monitoring tools remove the need for administrators to manually check on each device by centralizing log collection in a single platform and using pre-configured triggers to create alerts when issues are found.
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Network performance monitoring: Basic network automation for beginners
All network performance monitoring tools provide some degree of automation. These tools automatically discover devices and services on the network, collect and centralize logs from them, and alert administrators when log data falls outside of pre-configured thresholds. Platforms like Paessler PRTG are simple enough that most beginner network admins can easily configure and manage the automated features.
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Network monitoring with incident management: Automated incident creation and triaging for intermediate teams
Some network automation tools go a step further by automatically creating and assigning service desk tickets when an issue is detected. This is typically achieved by creating or customizing a series of playbooks, which can scale in difficulty from very simple to very complex. The network monitoring platform must support integrations with the team’s chosen service desk system, or the organization can choose a vendor with a large ecosystem like SolarWinds and purchase the monitoring and incident management solutions together.
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AIOps: Automatic monitoring, incident management, and remediation for advanced teams
AIOps uses artificial intelligence to analyze monitoring data with a much higher degree of sophistication than traditional threshold monitoring. AIOps tools like BigPanda can identify meaningful patterns, provide maintenance recommendations, perform root-cause analyses (RCA) to determine the source of issues, and remediate simple problems – all automatically. AIOps solutions are powerful but can be very challenging to configure and manage, so they’re best for teams with advanced automation knowledge and experience.
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Network security monitoring
Network security monitoring involves inspecting network traffic and logs for suspicious activity. This isn’t always handled by network teams directly – it sometimes falls within the purview of IT operations or a dedicated cybersecurity team.
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Signature-based threat detection: Basic security automation for beginner and intermediate teams
Traditional firewall and endpoint protection solutions use what’s known as signature-based detection, which means network requests are compared to a database of known threats to determine if they can be trusted. This is the basic level of network security automation that all admins are familiar with, so beginners frequently use these solutions. Some next-generation firewalls (NGFW) include more advanced technology like deep-packet inspection and application awareness that give intermediate teams greater control over security monitoring; these may also rely on signature databases, though more advanced versions like Palo Alto Networks Cortex incorporate some AI and machine learning technology as well.
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AI-based threat analysis and remediation: Intelligent security automation for advanced teams
AI-based network security monitoring tools like CrowdStrike use advanced machine learning algorithms to detect threats instead of relying on signature databases. These excel at identifying novel viruses and zero-day exploits that haven’t been observed before. Another technology that’s used in network security automation is called User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA). This uses machine learning to conduct in-depth analyses of user and account behavior on the network so it can detect anomalous activity and identify compromised accounts or malicious insiders. Many of these AI solutions can automatically perform simple remediation tasks as well, such as quarantining infected systems or blocking accounts with suspicious behavior. However, these solutions can be difficult to learn to use effectively unless teams are already familiar with artificial intelligence technology.
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Software-defined networking
Software-defined networking (SDN) technology uses software abstraction to turn networking control functions into code that’s decoupled from the underlying hardware. This creates a virtual overlay network that’s controlled by a centralized software controller, allowing teams to automate and orchestrate some or all network functions. There are two main types of software-defined networking covering LANs and WANs.
- Software-defined local area networking (SD-LAN), often just referred to as SDN: Manages local networks in data centers, central offices, and other large deployments. SD-LAN automation helps teams dynamically optimize network performance by intelligently routing and prioritizing traffic based on context and load. Juniper Networks provides a variety of SD-LAN/SDN solutions, which can be integrated and managed efficiently via ZPE Systems’ Nodegrid out-of-band management platform.
- Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN): Manages the networks that connect all the various business sites in a distributed network architecture to each other and to resources in the data center or cloud. In addition to optimizing network performance, SD-WAN’s intelligent routing can help reduce bandwidth on expensive MPLS circuits by finding alternative paths to requested resources. Palo Alto’s Prisma SD-WAN is an example of a mature software-defined solution for WAN which also integrates with ZPE’s Nodegrid out-of-band platform.
Both types require an intermediate-to-advanced level of scripting and automation knowledge, though some individual solutions are easier to configure and use than others.
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Deploy the best network automation tools with Nodegrid
There are many different network management workflows to automate and a wide variety of tools with which to do so. The “best” network automation tool is one that makes your team’s job easier by streamlining their most tedious tasks without being too complicated for them to use.
Another way to reduce management headaches and hardware overhead is by deploying your network automation tools with a vendor-neutral platform like Nodegrid. In addition to providing automation capabilities like ZTP, Nodegrid rolls up out-of-band (OOB) serial console management, gateway routing & switching, patch management, and more in a single device. The best part is that Nodegrid can directly host other vendors’ software, allowing you to deploy DevOps configuration management, network performance monitoring, AIOps, SD-WAN, and other network automation solutions without needing to purchase and manage additional hardware.
Want to learn more about deploying the best network automation tools with Nodegrid?
Contact the experts at ZPE Systems to learn more about using Nodegrid as a vendor-neutral platform for the best network automation tools.