R12.3-20260213

Managing Network Changes

Managing network changes can be a challenging task for network engineers during regular maintenance, which is prone to human errors and requires seamless planning, implementation, and verification. Based on the executable runbook automation framework, the Network Change Management feature introduces an adaptive workflow to document the best practices of the change management process and ensures a safer network change task:

Reduce Human Error in Network Changes — the Design, Implementation, and Operations teams can leverage a single map to define and validate changes. Changes can even be deployed with automation.
Implement Changes with One Click — the Design team can predefine a configuration template that the Implementation team can execute with one click. If required, these changes can be rolled back.
Validate Changes Visually — the Operations team can verify whether the changes were implemented as planned by executing a predefined runbook without adverse impact.

Network Change Task Flow

The typical workflow of a Change Management task is as follows:

Define Network Change — define network changes, such as commands and devices.
Benchmark Before — collect network data as a baseline before implementing the change.
Approve Network Change — approve a network change task in the NetBrain or an external system.
Execute Network Change — execute commands on devices.
Benchmark After — collect network data after implementing the change.
Compare — compare and validate the differences between two benchmark baselines.

Manage Network Changes

Engineers can view the changes and their status in the Network Change tab in Network Change Management.

Column	Description
Network Change	Name of the network change. When a network change is generated via TAF/PAF remediation, it is named as <Change Management Template Name>+ <The Execution Time>.
Status	New statuses: Pending Approval. The change task is pending approval. Partial Approval. An additional change is added after the initial change task has been approved. Also, the Change Management Settings does not allow executing additional unapproved changes after approval. Executed. The change has been executed.
Execution Time	The time when the task was/will be executed. When the task is not approved, it displays N/A. When the task has been approved, the display depends on whether executed or not: The task will be executed at a scheduled time. Example: The task was executed. Example: N/A: The change requires manual execution.
Execution Status	If the Execute node is executed successfully: Success Error Not Executed
Created Time	The time when the change task was created.
Change Window	The change window defined in change management template.
Source Type	Manual. The task was created manually. Schedule ADT Intents. The change task was created via scheduled ADT intents. Schedule Golden Intents. The change task was created via scheduled golden intents. Triggered Diagnosis. The change task was created via TAF remediation.
Source	Depending on the source type, the sources could display: Manual: Displays N/A Interactive Intent Execution: Displays the intent template name. Scheduled ADT Intents: Scheduled Task - <Intent Template Name> Scheduled Golden Intents: Scheduled Task - <Intent Template Name> Triggered Diagnosis (Triggered by TAF): <Ticket ID> -<Intent Template Name> Scheduled Task: It can be a scheduled ADT intent or golden intent. Or it can be generated via an incident.

You can use additional filters to quickly locate specific changes.

Filter	Description
View changes created/executed in All Time	View change tasks according to the time range they were created/executed.
XX Created Manually XX Created via Interactive Intent Execution XX Created via Triggered Diagnosis XX Created via Preventive Automation	View change tasks based on their source.
Executed Successfully/ Executed with Errors/ Not Executed	View change tasks based on their status.
Execution Method: All Manual Scheduled	View change tasks according to their execution methods.
Execution Results: All Success Failed Not Executed	View change tasks by specific results.
Source Type: All Manual Interactive Intent Execution Schedule ADT Intents Schedule Golden Intents Triggered Diagnosis	Manual: The change tasks were created manually. Interactive Intent Execution: The intent was executed manually. Schedule ADT Intents: The change task generated via Scheduled ADT Intents. Schedule Golden Intents: The change task generated via Scheduled Golden Intents. Triggered Diagnosis: The change task triggered by TAF.

Part IV: Change Management and Application Assurance Modules Creating a Network Change Task