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Introduction
Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) has emerged as a game-changer in today’s rapidly evolving networking landscape. Managing and optimizing network traffic is crucial for peak performance and seamless connectivity. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to update traffic policies on an SD-WAN fabric using Anuta ATOM while automating ServiceNow ticket creation and sending notifications via Webex and email.
Challenges in a Complex Environment
Depending solely on an SD-WAN vendor’s support team may cause hindrance in promptly resolving network issues, potentially causing delays. The challenge lies in the numerous manual steps, reliance on various point tools, and the need for seamless coordination among multiple teams to address such issues effectively.
Imagine a scenario where the Network Operations team is confronted with a critical situation: they are notified of either a network outage or a significant degradation in network performance. In such a situation, the challenge at hand is to swiftly and effectively implement an RCA and rectify the issue. This involves updating the traffic policy in the SD-WAN infrastructure, following a standard process- from making an incident ticket in your IT Service Management (ITSM) system and reaching out to multiple teams involved, consequently making it a complicated process.
Revolutionizing Connectivity: Dominating Domains with the Power of Integration
Anuta ATOM, a versatile integration platform, connects and automates various network components in organizations for easy interoperability. Key benefits of ATOM’s integration capabilities include:
Multi-Vendor Support: With the ability to support over 60 vendors and more than 250 platforms across domains, ATOM integrates with different SD-WAN solutions, providing flexibility.
Cross-Domain Automation: ATOM utilizes open standards like TMF APIs, YANG models, JINJA templates, and more to harmonize configurations and extend automation across various network domains.
Real-time visibility: Users can have real-time visibility into network performance, allowing them to identify and address issues as they arise quickly. For example, users can monitor bandwidth usage to ensure critical applications have the resources to perform optimally.
In the earlier discussed scenario, network operators can consolidate their tasks into a single platform using ATOM. Using customized workflows, they can efficiently conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) through Atom’s configuration versioning for incident tracking and implement the required policy updates. Additionally, real-time updates, monitoring logs, and syslogs supply vital information regarding incident symptoms, improving the incident resolution process.
ATOM – Cross Domain Automation Platform
This blog post will take a comprehensive look at the sequential process that the ATOM workflow follows to update the traffic policy on SD-WAN and ensure integrated operations.
Customer Request Handling
Once the user initiates the workflow request through the OSS/BSS platform or a webhook, ATOM promptly acquires essential user-provided details, including SDWAN configurations, policy specifications, Webex space information, and email parameters.
With the details of communication channels, including platforms like Webex and Slack, ATOM ensures that relevant stakeholders get notified.
ATOM – Workflow Dashboard
ITSM Ticket Creation
After receiving the customer’s request, ATOM takes the next step by creating a change request ticket in ServiceNow. This ensures that the request or intended changes are appropriately documented and tracked with the change request approver.
ServiceNow – Change Request Created
Orchestrating Traffic Policy Updates
The ATOM workflows play a crucial role in orchestrating the seamless adjustment of traffic policies across a variety of SD-WAN domains. This process guarantees the uniform and efficient implementation of changes, thereby enhancing network performance and compliance consistently.
Policy Updated
Notification
Keeping stakeholders informed is essential. ATOM ensures that all relevant stakeholders are informed of the completion of the task by sending out notifications through Email and Webex and closing the Service Now change request.
Policy Update Notification
Perfecting SD-WAN policy updates with Cross-Domain Automation
In summary, it’s crucial to thoroughly evaluate your choices and select the tool that aligns most effectively with your precise requirements rather than depending on manual procedures during the crisis.
By leveraging ATOM’s integration capabilities and embracing cross-domain automation, organizations can simplify the management of SD-WAN traffic policies across complex network environments. From user request handling to ITSM ticket creation and proactive stakeholder notifications to updating complex policies – ATOM can do it all in a single platform.
Additionally, ATOMs end-to-end automation, integration flexibility, real-time monitoring of network traffic, bandwidth usage, and application performance allow network operators to identify and troubleshoot issues before they become major problems without requiring IT expertise.
Embracing ATOM’s capabilities empowers organizations to navigate the challenges of modern networking with confidence, achieving operational efficiency and the agility required to adapt to evolving network demands. It’s a revolutionary leap toward dominating domains in the digital age.
Additional Contributors: Manisha Dhan
