In Focus Network

Orchestrate with Precision: The Key Ingredients Needed to Unlock Network Success Through Data Mastery

Imagine running a successful restaurant without a well-organised kitchen. Chaos would ensue; misplaced ingredients, delayed orders, and a compromised dining experience. Now, envision your network as that bustling kitchen. Just as a chef needs an orderly kitchen to deliver meals efficiently, network administrators rely on well-organised data for effective orchestration and automation. Efficient data organisation is akin to having a meticulously arranged kitchen—it streamlines operations, minimises errors, and ensures smooth functioning.

Efficient data organisation is crucial for successful network orchestration and automation implementation. In network orchestration, accurate and real-time data about network components, their configurations, and performance metrics are essential for making informed decisions. Properly organised data ensures that network administrators and automated systems can quickly retrieve and interpret information, leading to more responsive and accurate management of network resources and services. For example, well-structured network topology data enables automation tools to easily identify and address configuration issues or optimise resource allocation without manual input.

In complex network environments, multiple tools are used for monitoring and management. Efficient data organisation combined with well-designed APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) allow for seamless integration and interoperability. APIs facilitate data exchange, enabling automation systems to access and manipulate information from multiple sources. This integration is crucial for automating complex network tasks and ensuring systems operate with consistent and accurate data.

Organisation is Everything

Data integrity is vital for maintaining operational efficiency. Automation processes depend on predefined rules and data-driven logic to perform provisioning, scaling, and incident management. Structured and up-to-date data ensures automation tools work with reliable information, reducing errors and improving network reliability. Deduplication further supports this by maintaining a clean and accurate dataset. Even the best and most advanced tools for network service orchestration and workflow definitions will not meet expectations if the data is not well-managed.

One of the central components addressing the requirement of well-organised network data for orchestration and automation is a Source of Truth tool which describes the correct network state. NRENs already recognise the importance of using a Source of Truth tool by leveraging their in-house developed solutions or open-source tools such as NetBox or Nautobot.

“One of the goals of the Network Development team within the GÉANT Project is searching, testing and showcasing new network orchestration and automation solutions, including tools, APIs, data models and practices, to provide the community the knowledge about the trends and approaches that could be applied in their implementations and operations.”
Ivana Golub, PSNC, GÉANT Work package Leader

The Network Development team, based on extensive experience and feedback from seasoned network engineers, developed Maat (named after Ma’at the Egyptian goddess of law, order, justice and balance) — a new single source of truth tool that addresses gaps in existing solutions and provides a standardised API and flexible data model grounded on data integrity and efficiency. Designed to enhance network management and automation, Maat’s approach to data organisation includes advanced features that effectively handle complex and evolving network environments. Hence, the Polish NREN has chosen Maat as the single source of truth for their PIONIER network.

“Maat showcases how structured data, combined with advanced tools and practices, can lead to more effective network management, network planning and reduced amount of mistakes and configuration errors at the operational level.”
Tomasz Szewczyk, senior network engineer at PSNC.

Efficient data organisation is foundational for successful network orchestration and automation implementation. It ensures critical information is accessible and accurate, supports reliable automation processes, and facilitates integration among management tools through APIs.

By applying the principles of data integrity and powerful APIs, you can transform your network management into finely tuned orchestrated operations, much like turning a disorganised kitchen into a five-star culinary heaven.

Learn more about Maat or try a demo at https://geant-netdev.gitlab-pages.pcss.pl/MaatDocs/


CONNECT47 - GÉANT CONNECT Magazine - Driving innovation and diversity through global collaborationThis article is featured on CONNECT47, the latest issue of the GÉANT CONNECT Magazine!

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About the author

Sonja Filiposka

Prof. Sonja Filiposka is a full professor at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering (FINKI), part of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University. She is actively involved in the GÉANT projects since GN3+ working on network services development, automation and orchestration.

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