Unlock time with NetDevOps: Your business’ most precious currency

Time is seen as the ultimate currency as– it’s the one resource you can’t purchase or stockpile. But what if there was a way to maximise your time investment? Enter NetDevOps. 

NetDevOps: The time-saving bridge

NetDevOps combines the best of DevOps practices with deep knowledge from network operations (hence the name NetDevOps). By embracing NetDevOps, you bridge the gap between network infrastructure and applications, creating a unified approach that saves precious time. 

NetDevOps integrates the principles of DevOps – such as Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Delivery (CD) and automated testing – into network management. This integration fosters a more agile and collaborative environment where network changes can be implemented swiftly and reliably without the usual pre-change request fear. 

Automation tools like Ansible and Terraform play a crucial role, reducing the need for manual interventions and minimising human errors, thus speeding up processes and enhancing overall efficiency. When combined with programming languages and tools like Python, Nornir, Nautobot, pyATS and SuzieQ, they create an unbeatable automation machine to complement and accelerate your network engineer’s knowledge of the enterprise network. 

Why NetDevOps matters

Traditional network management relies on manual processes, leading to inefficiencies, errors and delays. NetDevOps changes the game – it treats the network as code, allowing for all the advantages of DevOps and software engineering, such as: 

• Version control through VCS such as Git 
• Automated testing through frameworks such as pyATS 
• Error avoidance through techniques such as linting to remove human error 
• Integrated security through pipeline source code analysis tools 

The result?

✔ Faster deployments

✔ Quicker upgrades

✔ Reduced bottlenecks 

Your network becomes a time-saving powerhouse. 

Contrast this with traditional network management which is often slow, prone to mistakes and causes significant delays and operational issues. The automation of routine tasks also frees up valuable time for network engineers to focus on higher-value, more strategic initiatives. 

Imagining the possibilities of a NetDevOps approach

NetDevOps promotes a culture of shared responsibility and knowledge within the network team. By automating easier network tasks and maintaining comprehensive (and dynamically-updating) documentation and version control, the dependency on individual team members is significantly reduced. 

Concepts like automated testing and validation processes benefit everyone, ensuring that network upgrades and changes are implemented smoothly, with reduced risk of downtime and enhancing the overall stability of the network. 

NetDevOps + Cloud Networking: Making 1+1 = 5 

If you’re considering deploying Network Virtual Appliances (NVA) or Network Function Virtualisation (NVF/NVF) via ClickOps or TradOps, you may want to think again. For high velocity application delivery, embracing modularity, obtaining cultural shifts or infrastructure as code, a NetDevOps approach will be critical. Cloud environments like AWS, Azure and GCP offer powerful tools for deploying and managing network resources, such as: 

Azure API 

• Dynamically update your UDRs based on observability practices to a lower-loaded firewall NVA or link. 

Azure CLI 

• Expose the underlying Azure VNET BGP route paths using the relevant “az network” commands. 

Azure VM Scale Sets (VMSS) 

• Horizontally scale-out your NVA firewall appliance from vendors like Fortinet, Palo Alto and Cisco to achieve the cloud-like elasticity you can only dream of via traditional N+1 deployment approaches. 

AWS CloudFormation 

• Deploy your AWS landing zone based on a repeatable, easy-to-reproduce Infrastructure as Code (IaC) footprint, deployable and reproducible in minutes rather than days. 

The cultural shift towards automation and modularity further enhances the agility and responsiveness of the network. Vendors like VMware, Juniper Networks, and Palo Alto networks provide robust solutions that integrate seamlessly with these cloud platforms, and by using NetDevOps practices, you can take full advantage of this to enhance your network operations to meet your business’ potential. 

How CACI can help

 CACI understands that time is money, which is why our NetDevOps solutions are designed to buy you more of it. We offer: 

• Expertise in network automation: Our team of experts bring years of experience in automating network processes, ensuring your network is always one step ahead. 
• Customised solutions: We tailor our NetDevOps solutions to fit your unique business needs, ensuring maximum efficiency and effectiveness. 
• Proven track record: Our successful deployments across various industries from media to telco, utilities, financial services and others speak for themselves. We deliver results that matter. 

Investing in NetDevOps is not just about keeping up with the times; it’s about staying ahead and buying time. CACI’s can help you unlock the true potential of your network and transform it into a strategic asset that drives business success. Remember, time might not be a currency, but with NetDevOps, you can buy simultaneous network delivery concurrency.

Invest wisely, get in touch with our team today.

Disclaimer: You may get back more time than the amount of invested. Past CACI performance is a guaranteed indicator of your network’s future performance success. Your network is almost certainly not at risk.