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Key Takeaways
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- Address the network operations skills shortage by boosting automation.
- Cultivate broad and efficient integration with diverse technologies, which is crucial for automating and optimizing network operations.
- Harness the comprehensive observability of DX NetOps to eliminate blind spots, optimize network performance, and improve end-user experience.
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In many organizations, network teams are experiencing a significant skills shortage. The network operations center (NOC) requires expertise in various emerging technologies, which makes it increasingly challenging to find qualified candidates with the right skills. A recent survey revealed that in 2022, only 26% of companies found it somewhat to very difficult to hire networking professionals. By 2024, this figure had risen to 41%.
To contend with this skills shortage, automation can offer significant promise. However, to date, automation within the network management domain remains limited. Existing tool sets are one key reason for this lack of automation. Typically, network organizations use between three and 15 different tools. This stifles integration and it prevents standardization of workflows and processes, which is key to setting the stage for effective automation. Consequently, NOC personnel must rely heavily on manual intervention, further exacerbating the skills shortage problem.
The importance of enabling integrations
Integrating network observability solutions in today’s hybrid network ecosystem is essential for ensuring business continuity. Every organization running a NOC implements workflows and standard operating procedures that require secure and seamless data flow between systems. This data exchange is crucial for automating, optimizing, and enhancing the agility of network operations.
In recent years, APIs and high-performance message buses have been pivotal in bridging the gap between distinct systems and applications. Implementing these technologies within network management can help create a unified and efficient network operations ecosystem, enabling seamless data exchange across various platforms for transformation, analysis, and reporting.
Integrating DX NetOps in the IT ecosystem
DX NetOps features multi-vendor, multi-technology coverage, which is pivotal for network operations teams. Through a single platform, the solution delivers complete observability, helping NOC teams eliminate blind spots, ensure optimal network performance, and deliver better end-user experiences.
Additionally, integrating network data into third-party tools is also a must for organizations aiming to understand the impact of their network on overall IT operations. This is especially important in teams employing practices like Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), where operational data is shared across various IT teams. Broadcom frequently works with customers seeking to incorporate DX NetOps data into external solutions, including big data analysis platforms, reporting tools, auditing systems, automation frameworks, and artificial intelligence and machine learning pipelines.
The DX NetOps platform offers several integration points for exporting data, enabling teams to create customized integrations. Here are the types of interfaces available and how they can be used:
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Interface Type
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Capability
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Use Cases
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Rest API
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DX NetOps provides an OpenAPI to extract inventory and performance data from its database. It also provides an API for the Spectrum data model.
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Expand performance visualizations, custom dashboards, and reporting (i.e. Grafana); integrate with a MoM (manager of managers).
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Kafka
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Real time extraction of metrics, events, and alarms through a high performance and highly available message bus. Reduced risk of bottlenecks by decoupling the observability platform from external data consumers.
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Integration with cloud-native applications; extract, transform, and load (ETL) tools; and real-time data streams for analytics. Ideal for integrating with other observability platforms, such as Elastic, Splunk, or cloud provider data pipelines, such as publish and subscribe capabilities in Google Cloud Platform.
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Bulk data export
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Extract data at polling rate in CSV format.
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Auditing and compliance, bulk export, spreadsheet reporting (CSV), or legacy application integration.
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Alarm notification via AlarmNotifier
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Invoke scripts that provide notifications depending on alarm status.
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ITSM integrations, email/SMS notifications, and outbound traps to third-party systems. Start automations in response to an alert.
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Modeling gateway
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Network topology import and export.
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Build network topology when discovery is not possible. Integrate network topology with CMDBs and other external repositories.
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CLI
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Versatile commands to update or export monitoring data.
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Scripting, automation, or bulk administration tasks.
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DX NetOps offers a comprehensive set of integration points, allowing users to choose the most suitable methods for creating customized integrations that enhance network management processes. This enables network organizations to adopt a cohesive approach to building an operations ecosystem, maximizing collaboration and operational efficiency.
Best practices for DX NetOps integrations
As a final thought, it is essential to remember some basic tips to facilitate these integrations:
- Leverage provided examples
- Start small and use filtering to narrow down the data that is needed
- Audit API usage
- Review OpenAPI performance best practices
- Always secure your endpoints (API, Kafka) and use encryption at rest and in transit
Conclusion
For today’s network operations teams, evolving technology landscapes and growing skill shortages present major challenges. Automation offers significant potential for helping teams contend with these challenges, however, to date, this potential has largely remained untapped. Integrating network observability solutions within the broader IT management landscape has proven effective in connecting disparate systems, facilitating the seamless data exchange necessary for automation and optimization. DX NetOps stands out by integrating data into third-party tools, enabling organizations to gain a comprehensive understanding of the network's impact on overall IT operations.
To learn more about our solution, visit Broadcom’s network observability microsite. Additionally, ensure your DX NetOps implementation remains current and benefit from seamless upgrades by participating in our Weekend Upgrade Program.
