Suggestion for Webinar Content

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I've been trying to dig into network automation for a bit, and I'm struggling to find what I'm looking for. I think that there are likely others in my same situation. I passed my CCNA R+S right before the switchover to the new format, so I didn't learn any automation stuff from the new CCNA.

The thing I'm struggling with is understanding what network automation can actually accomplish. I've seen plenty of content on what automation is, the basics behind the frameworks that are involved (Ansible, Puppet, Chef, etc.), and some really basic things such as NetConf and basic monitoring scripts. What I'd like to see is the power of automation. Show me something I can't do without automation. I'm pretty excited about automation and it's potential, but I can't seem to get my boss (he's been running networks for longer than I have been alive) on board. A lot of it has to do with the cost of the supporting hardware (Why, Cisco?), but there's a major component of value proposition. How will network automation significantly improve my workflow or enhance my ability to maintain my network infrastructure?

TL:DR - Blow my mind with some complex automation to make me excited for the future!

@Zachary-Ott said in Suggestion for Webinar Content:

The thing I'm struggling with is understanding what network automation can actually accomplish.

So, let's talk about the goal of network automation. It is not about doing the unique as much as it is about doing the mundane things. For example, At a hospital, I'm replacing all 25 of the switches connecting each department with 25 new switches. If I were to do this the conventionally, I would have to not only install each switch in place but configure them all and test for connectivity.

Network automation provides us with the ability to the same thing. Nothing really mind blowing here. But it lets me do this by, let's say creating a script. Then I run them against all 25 switches at the same time. Here, network automation saves time and repetitive work, allowing the network engineer to focus on other tasks at hand.

If you want to see the power of network automation. It plays a part of something larger that is called Intent Based Networking (IBN). Within the world of Cisco, you want to take a look at the Cisco DNA Center. This would be their software that will design, build, deploy and validate each network device. Also manage those devices to change as the business needs change--that is provision and configure ALL networking devices in minutes, rather than months, weeks, days or hours.

@Ronnie-Wong said in Suggestion for Webinar Content:

If you want to see the power of network automation. It plays a part of something larger that is called Intent Based Networking (IBN).

Yes, this would be the kind of thing I'd like to see. I think another question to ask is at what point is an organization large enough to benefit from this kind of automation? My company has about 150 Cisco infrastructure devices, but I can't imagine a scenario in which we'd replace more that 4 or 5 devices at a time. The cost of getting DNA Center, and the time spent configuring and deploying the back-end stuff to get IBN established would take far longer than just having me set up 4 or 5 switches every few months.

@Zachary-Ott,

You can do a search for Cisco DNA Center. They have demos that are available, also you can setup a one on one demo with a Cisco DNA center professional

In Sept, I will be doing a webinar to introduce the concept of IBN--what it is and what it isn't. We will not be doing a demonstration around this but general exposure as to what it is.