Agentic NetOps: The Right Direction, and the Real Work Ahead
NetBrain’s big announcement was so big, it took over the Sphere. But this was Cisco Live, so let’s talk about what Cisco had to say too. In his keynote, Jeetu...
Cisco ACI is one of the most comprehensive and secure software-defined network (SDN) solutions available. It enables application-centric networking, which reduces complexity and speeds infrastructure provisioning. Yet the shift toward application-driven operations can be challenging for organizations accustomed to a traditional network-centric model.
NetBrain’s integration with Cisco ACI provides a pragmatic bridge, allowing enterprises to adopt an application-centric strategy at their own pace, while maintaining operational continuity and unlocking the full value of modern data center architectures.
How the Cisco ACI-NetBrain Integration Works
For most enterprises, shifting to an application-centric network (ACN) calls for intelligent automation that can close the gap between long-standing operational practices and the realities of modern SDN architectures. The Cisco ACI-NetBrain integration brings a new level of operational intelligence to application-centric data centers.
By integrating with Cisco ACI, NetBrain delivers automation capabilities that extend the value of Cisco ACI automation tools — providing end-to-end visibility and automated workflows across complex, heterogeneous environments.
Using NetBrain’s powerful visualization, A-B path mapping, and Runbook Automation, the solution provides extensive capabilities in the form of network and application-centric views, troubleshooting, and on-demand monitoring that help users seamlessly transition to ACI and optimize day-2 data center operations.
The Benefits of Cisco ACI-NetBrain Integration
NetBrain’s integration with Cisco ACI allows IT teams to automate Day-2 network operations — streamlining troubleshooting, enforcing compliance, and reducing risk across complex environments. When enterprise teams combine Cisco’s policy-driven fabric with NetBrain’s no-code, intent-based automation, they can proactively manage and optimize their networks for business-critical outcomes.
Gain Visibility Into Physical and Logical Constructs in the New ACI Fabric
By integrating directly with APIC through REST APIs, the integration brings Cisco ACI’s physical and logical constructs into NetBrain. This integration makes it possible to navigate both network and application context side by side within NetBrain’s Resource Tree. For operations teams, that means they can view the ACI fabric from a network topology standpoint and through the lens of application dependencies.
Enterprise teams can isolate problems faster, gain clearer visibility across layers, and align application performance with network behavior. Ultimately, this reduces downtime, streamlines Cisco ACI troubleshooting, and ensures critical business services remain consistently available.
Figure 1
Visualize Application-to-Network Relationships With Context Maps
Using Context Maps, users can plot relationships between applications and the corresponding network infrastructure and create dynamic and customizable Data Views to get one-click access to all relevant data points.
Figure 2
Optimize Day-2 Enterprise Network Operations
Designed for an architecture where the ACI fabric is working closely with traditional networks, the solution provides extensive visibility and numerous tools to optimize the overall enterprise network operations. Further, the solution helps users to bring the ACI fabric as an integrated part of the entire network, bringing both ACI and non-ACI network components into a single consistent view.
Figure 3
Gain End-to-End Network Visibility Across ACI and Traditional Environments
NetBrain’s A-B path tracing capability allows users to gain a hop-by-hop view of the network path traversing across traditional network and ACI fabric.
Figure 4
Minimize Network Disruptions Through Accelerated Troubleshooting
In an era where the per hour cost of network disruption is reaching millions of dollars, enterprises are increasingly looking for solutions that accelerate troubleshooting and minimize downtime. Along with extensive visibility and rich Data Views, the solution offers powerful troubleshooting capabilities in Runbook Automation and Triggered Diagnosis. With Runbook Automation, users can codify their design and troubleshooting knowledge in the form of Executable Runbooks.
While troubleshooting, users can directly execute a Runbook routine in the Context Maps and further drill down into individual devices and interfaces for deeper root-cause analysis.
Figure 5
Enable Collaboration With Reusable Runbook Automation
Runbook Automation functions as a collaborative tool. Network design experts can build detailed Runbook procedures that capture their knowledge and proven methods. These procedures can be shared and reused across organizations, reducing duplication of effort and giving teams a common reference point when addressing complex operational challenges.
Figure 6
Capture and Resolve Transient Network Issues
For transient problems where capturing the diagnostic information is critical along with immediate actions, the solution provides Triggered Diagnosis capability. Users can create a routine that listens to real-time notifications from APIC and, upon triggering, automatically maps the problem area, executes data collection and analysis actions, and saves results in the map.
Figure 7
Drive Agile Network Operations With NetBrain
The Cisco ACI-NetBrain integration provides network teams with unified visibility across application-centric and traditional network infrastructures. This integration enables faster troubleshooting by correlating application performance data with underlying network behavior, reducing the time required to identify and resolve connectivity issues.
By aligning application intent with automated operations, network teams can resolve issues faster and minimize risk. Request a demo today and see how Cisco ACI network automation with NetBrain can power more agile network operations.