{"id":14615,"date":"2019-09-24T19:24:50","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T23:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/?p=14615"},"modified":"2022-10-14T18:27:46","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T22:27:46","slug":"new-itential-api-services-move-toward-network-infrastructure-as-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/sd-wan\/new-itential-api-services-move-toward-network-infrastructure-as-code.html","title":{"rendered":"New Itential API Services Move Toward Network Infrastructure as Code"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>There is so much going on at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmcnet.com\/query\/searchresults.aspx?searchstring=Itential+&amp;Action.x=0&amp;Action.y=0\">Itential<\/a>. We just reported they <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/sd-wan\/itential-expands-automation-across-cisco-sd-wan-cloud-and-data-center-networks.html\">expanded automation<\/a> across Cisco SD-WAN, a new automation <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/sd-wan\/itential-automation-gateway-boosts-network-automation-transforms-scripts-into-apis.html\">gateway for network automation<\/a> and now &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itential.com\/news\/itential-launches-new-api-services-to-enable-organizations-to-move-toward-network-infrastructure-as-code\/\">new APIs <\/a>which allow organizations to move towards network infrastructure as code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new&nbsp;API Services&nbsp;enable organizations to implement NetDevOps concepts and move toward Network Infrastructure as Code. Itential\u2019s new services and tools equip network engineers to incrementally adopt modern CI\/CD principles for advancing network automation and programmability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"321\" height=\"321\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Chris-Wade.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14617\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Chris-Wade.jpg 321w, https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Chris-Wade-90x90.jpg 90w, https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Chris-Wade-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 321px) 100vw, 321px\" \/><figcaption> Chris Wade, CTO, Itential <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cThe complexity of today\u2019s networks, combined with the lack of investment in modern application concepts, has created a situation where network management applications are constraining the ability to support business and consumer demands,\u201d said Chris Wade, CTO, Itential. \u201cBy incorporating a Network Infrastructure as Code approach to automation, enterprises can use Itential\u2019s modern agile software development principles to build, test, validate, and deploy network changes and adopt existing investments in the infrastructure as code ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Itential was designed for DevOps and NetOps teams to accelerate the move toward software-driven networks through automation and agile network operations.&nbsp; NetDevOps allows organizations to adopt CI\/CD pipelines with the ability to build, test, validate and deploy changes before they are made to the network. These principles greatly improve velocity and quality while catching errors for a continuous improvement methodology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Itential\u2019s NetOps pipeline capabilities include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Build \u2013 Create the building blocks of your infrastructure<br><\/strong>Dynamically render configurations from a library of expert built templates that combine reusable chunks of configuration to create composite configurations. Transform data from one format into another and run optimizers to eliminate redundant or poorly designed config.<\/li><li><strong>Test \u2013 Ensure your infrastructure change does what you intend it to do<br><\/strong>Simulate the change before you make it and compare simulation outputs to known desired outcomes. Check to see if your change affects any pre-existing functionality.<\/li><li><strong>Validate \u2013 Ensure that your changes are safe<br><\/strong>Check that a configuration is error-free, before you deploy it to a device. Run a security scan to see if you\u2019re running compromised software and run a security scan to see if you\u2019re exposed to network threats.<\/li><li><strong>Deploy \u2013 Deploy your infrastructure changes to your network<br><\/strong>Leverage tools like Ansible, Terraform, SDN Controllers, and Orchestrators to push changes to your network. Update operational support systems to stay in sync with your network changes and keep track of your changes by tagging and versioning them when you deploy.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To support the community\u2019s efforts to develop NetOps pipelines, Itential\u2019s new Developer Tools and API Services aim to ease the adoption of Network Infrastructure as Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>TemplateIDE<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 An interactive templating environment that simplifies the use of templates for automating network operations.&nbsp;TemplateIDE&nbsp;enables NetDevOps teams to create, edit, and update multiple types of templates such as TextFSM, Jinja2, and Mustache to both intake network device output for key points of data as well as generate network configuration input. In addition, TemplateIDE provides a dynamic library of the most commonly used templates, mitigating the need to write templates from scratch.<\/li><li><strong>JSONtoSchema<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 intelligently and dynamically generates JSON Schema based on user provided JSON objects. The&nbsp;JSONtoSche mabuilder makes it easy to quickly visualize and update changes to the JSON Schema.<\/li><li><strong>Config Validator<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Enable NetDevOps teams to find and catch network configuration errors before they are pushed to the network. With&nbsp;Config Validator, powered by Batfish, easily determine if a device configuration is syntactically correct by verifying and validating the output of auto-generated network configuration, before trying to apply the config to a device, minimizing the risk of outages.<\/li><li><strong>Policy Analyzer<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Assess your network policies such ACL and Firewall for correctness, overlap, and performance with Itential\u2019s&nbsp;Policy Analyzer. Evaluate MAC, IPv4, IPv6 for validity and calculate CIDR block optimization.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are excited to work with industry partners like Itential to accelerate the use of network automation and help organizations of all sizes build software-like CI\/CD pipelines for&nbsp;their network,\u201d&nbsp;said Ratul Mahajan, CEO, Intentionet. \u201cItential\u2019s new Config Validator service powered by Batfish, helps introduce networking teams to this foundational element of a CI\/CD pipeline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As digital transformation continues, companies need to be more agile and efficient. We applaud Itential for their initiatives here which allow for more agile network configuration and deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Come and learn about the latest in everything business tech\u2026&nbsp;<strong>Collaboration<\/strong>, UCaaS,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cvxexpo.tmcnet.com\/east\/\">the Channel<\/a>,&nbsp;IT, IOT,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.intelligentedgeexpo.com\/\">Edge<\/a>, Cybersecurity, AI,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sd-wanexpo.com\/east\/\">SD-WAN<\/a>,&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.futureofworkexpo.com\/\">Future of Work<\/a>&nbsp;at the world\u2019s only&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sdwanexpo.com\/\">SD-WAN Expo<\/a><\/strong>, part of the&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.itexpo.com\/\">ITEXPO<\/a>&nbsp;<\/strong>#TechSuperShow,&nbsp;Feb 12-14, 2020 Fort Lauderdale, FL. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/itexpo-2019-hall-7.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12172\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/itexpo-2019-hall-7.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/itexpo-2019-hall-7-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is so much going on at Itential. We just reported they expanded automation across Cisco SD-WAN, a new automation gateway for network automation and now &#8211; new APIs which allow organizations to move towards network infrastructure as code. The new&nbsp;API Services&nbsp;enable organizations to implement NetDevOps concepts and move toward Network Infrastructure as Code. Itential\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":14630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1829],"tags":[2013,2425,1901,1808],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14615"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14618,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14615\/revisions\/14618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}