Smart Network Management with Intent-Based Networking (IBN)

Network management is becoming increasingly complex and resource-intensive in today’s fast-paced, complex, and evolving IT environments. While software-defined networking automates most network management processes, most tasks still require manual involvement by skilled network administrators. But humans are slow, inconsistent, and often expensive.The stakes are even higher considering the rise in remote working models and pandemic-related lockdowns that limit network administrators’ ability to access network equipment physically. Intent-based networking eliminates many of these problems by supporting rapid, at-scale management and ensuring the network is more autonomic.

What Is Intent-Based Networking?

Intent-based networking is a smart network management trend that incorporates artificial intelligence, machine learning, and network orchestration to automate administrative tasks. Intent-based networking takes your network—regardless of the vendor or network devices’ operating system—and transforms it from piecemeal, node-by-node management to an autonomic network.

The resulting network is self-operated, self-corrected, and self-adjusted based on the parameters of your expressed objectives. You can think of “intent” as an outcome or business objective you’d like the network to accomplish. Intent-based networking is a complete departure from the way network administrators manage networks today.

A traditional network relies on a command-line interface (CLI) that manually sets up all network vendors’ devices individually. Each vendor has its own unique interface and syntax. As such, network administrators must learn the CLI syntax for each vendor device to achieve business outcomes, which is tedious and time-consuming.

In contrast, intent-based networking is algorithm-based, end-to-end networking that manages all network devices seamlessly from a single pane of glass. The primary goal of intent-based networking is to minimize the complexity of creating, managing, and enforcing network policies. It also reduces the manual labor associated with configuration management in traditional networking.

How does Intent-Based Networking Work?

IBN is based on software-defined networking (SDN), and it employs a network controller as a centralized control point for network operations. These controllers are essential for network abstraction, which allows IT to handle the network. Controller-led networks in all domains (access, WAN, data center, and cloud) interact and expand their advantages across the company, assisting in the realization of digital transformation.

IBN’s closed-loop solution uses the following functional building components to offer intent or support for the business or IT results your company requires.

Translation: Capturing and translating intent into policies that the network may act on.
Activation: Using network-wide automation, these policies are installed throughout the real and virtual network architecture.
Assurance: Continuous network monitoring using analytics and machine learning to ensure that the desired intent has been implemented and the business results have been accomplished.

What is the Purpose of Intent-Based Networking?

From start-ups to established networking suppliers, intent-based networking firms provide a variety of services. However, the idea is to employ machine learning and cognitive computing to enable increased automation and decreased time wasted on manual configuration and maintenance through networking. They sell software that translates user intent into the network configuration. Network managers establish a result or business objective—the intent—and the network’s software, using artificial intelligence and machine learning, works out how to accomplish that aim.

To verify intentions, intent-based networking solutions don’t just give real-time insight into a network’s activity and automate lengthy operations, but they also anticipate any deviations from that purpose and advise what must be done to ensure that intent. The network becomes quicker and more agile because of this greater intelligence, and mistakes are found less. Intent-based networking relies heavily on this capacity to monitor itself as well as correct itself.

What is the Core Component of Intent-Based Networking?

An intent-based network has four primary components:

Translation and validation. An intent-based network can translate commands specified by network administrators into actions that the software performs. As such, network administrators can define high-level business policies and enforce them programmatically in the network. Besides translation, it also certifies that the intent is executable.
Automated implementation. After defining the intent, an intent-based network allocates the network resources automatically and enforces policies to generate a desired state of the business objective.
State awareness. An intent-based network collects data continuously from the environment to monitor the network status.
Assurance and dynamic optimization/remediation. An intent-based network uses machine learning to maintain the desired network status. Machine learning selects the best way to implement the desired network status and takes automated corrective actions if necessary.

The above intent-based networking components have one goal: allowing network administrators to specify what they want their networks to do. In turn, the intent-based network platform automatically generates the desired network status with enforced policies.

Key Elements for Intent Based Networking Autonomy

Intent-based networking requires five crucial elements that must work together to achieve network autonomy. Here is what each element performs:

Business policy. An intent-based network creates and validates business policies associated with identity, access, security, service levels, and compliance. It also translates these policies into network requirements.
Automation. An intent-based network simplifies the provisioning, configuration, and maintenance of networks via automation. Automation helps network administrators to reduce delivery times and configuration efforts.
Assurance. An intent-based network monitors, collects, analyses, and presents data from various components like users, applications, and devices. Organizations can use this data to unearth business insights for competitive advantages.
Security. Intent-based networking incorporates security into all aspects of the network. This allows the system to rapidly detect and enforce security policies anywhere in the enterprise network, including encrypted traffic.
Programmable network infrastructure. Intent-based networking provides a rich portfolio, including scalable, highly secure, and programmable network components (physical and virtualized resources). These elements can automatically connect network devices, transport data, enforce business policies, and achieve security.

What Are Some Benefits of Intent-Based Networking?

Intent-based networking has numerous benefits compared to traditional networking and even software-defined networking. It can:

Reduce manual tasks. Network administrators don’t have to configure anything in the network. They just declare an intent, and the network translates it, verifying that the configuration is possible and making the changes that adapt to the desired configuration.
Fast-track troubleshooting and resolution of issues. Because an intent-based network monitors the network continuously, performance issues get detected quickly. With machine learning, these issues can be resolved quickly.
Enhance network security. Intent-based networking integrates security features across all the aspects of the enterprise network, which identifies threats constantly. Security threats that are identified are quickly contained.
Achieve competitive advantage. Intent-based networking provides optimized analytics that network administrators can use to make better decisions about business objectives. Organizations can use these analytics to improve security and network performance and promote their bottom line.
Accelerate agility. An intent-based network transforms high-level business objectives into optimal network configurations that support the organization’s goals. This allows the organization to adapt quickly to new changes and applications without adjusting organizational structural changes.

Intent Based Networking Drawbacks

There are several difficulties that might arise while using the IBNS because it is an unproven technology. Among them are:

Visibility: The most crucial element to take into account is network visibility. Since the regulations are enforced by the program itself, finding the network hogs won’t be a piece of cake if it doesn’t perform as promised.
Dependability: Even if the IBNS implements regulations after receiving approval from network managers, reliability will always be a problem.

What Are the Differences between Intent-Based Networking and Software-Defined Networking?

Intent-based networking and software-defined networking share similarities, albeit with some differences. First, both network management approaches centralized management of distributed devices on the network. This contrasts with traditional networking, where network administrators use a command-line interface to manage each device individually via its own management console.

Second, both approaches abstract the management from distributed network devices, aligning them closer to how the organization wants to operate. In this regard, both intent-based networking and software-defined networking can comprehend the network configuration and interaction across several network devices.

Despite the similarities, the two approaches differ in how they abstract the management control at an administrative level. While software-defined networking abstracts the management control panel from network devices, it is still hardware-centric. While this orchestrates network management processes, you still need network administrators to manage some tasks manually.

In contrast, intent-based networking abstracts the management control plane from a higher level, taking it from hardware-centric to business-centric. In software-defined networking, network administrators issue commands that comprehend device names or types, internet protocol (IP) ranges, virtual local area networks (VLANs), and other networking constructs.

On the other hand, intent-based networking allows network administrators to issue commands from a business perspective. It then leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to translate the commands and orchestrate network management tasks.

How You Can Enable Cloud Automation with Parallels RAS

Enterprise IT landscapes are becoming increasingly complex as organizations transition from on-premises to cloud computing. This shift has accelerated the development of network management approaches such as software-defined networking and intent-based networking. Orchestration can help organizations achieve significant advances in speed, agility, and security by simplifying many administrative tasks running in data centers.

Leveraging an out-of-the-box virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution such as Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) can help you modernize your IT infrastructure after transitioning to the cloud. Parallels RAS has inbuilt cloud automation tools that can free IT administrators from performing repetitive and lengthy tasks. Some of these tools include:

Streamlined applications and desktop delivery. IT administrators can deploy and manage remote desktop session hosts (RDSH), Windows Virtual Desktop, remote PC, and VDI from a single pane of glass.
Automated image configurations. Parallels RAS has over 130 inbuilt automated image capabilities that IT administrators can use to simplify resource provisioning and management.
Microsoft PowerShell Application Programming Interface (API). IT administrators can use PowerShell API in Parallels RAS to automate repetitive and complex tasks.
Representational State Transfer (REST) API. Parallels RAS supports REST API protocol, which IT administrators can use to automate publishing resources and manage user sessions.

Experience for yourself how Parallels RAS enables cloud automation!

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