Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
We recently had some discussions with an SDN vendor about how we could enrich SDN insights with other IT domains such as application and infrastructure.
The key question was: “How can I measure the impact of my SDN deployments on my business services?”.
We decided to run a quick pilot to see how data from applications, infrastructure, and SDN architectures would impact a business service topology. The data volume, variety, and complexity was the key driver to leverage AIOps in this exercise. The primary goal was to analyze the insights produced after noise reduction and root cause analysis performed in our AIOps platform.
We started by setting DX NetOps fault management (powered by DX NetOps Spectrum), as a data source into the AIOps platform. DX NetOps supports a variety of SDN vendors for comprehensive monitoring and full visibility so it made sense to stream data from DX NetOps Spectrum into AIOps.
This practitioner blog post will showcase the integration between DX NetOps Spectrum and DX Operational Intelligence, the value-added, and relevant Insights. We hope it is a good kick-start for you to explore the value of plugging SDN performance data into AIOps and realize the full potential of this integration.
So DX NetOps Spectrum does a phenomenal job with fault isolation; why add another layer on top of it? That is a fair question.
DX NetOps Spectrum uses an active communication mechanism to isolate faults and analyze the connectivity issue at L2/L3, segregating root cause and symptomatic alarms. We need to look at the global picture in order to see the value added by Broadcom’s AIOps solution in conjunction with DX NetOps. The following use cases can enrich and complement SDN insights:
A full list of use cases can be found here.
Let’s dive into how you can set up the DX NetOps Spectrum connector, also called Spectrum Data Publisher.
This section will walk you through the process of setting up the integration between DX NetOps and DX Operational Intelligence. The Spectrum Data Publisher is a standalone connector that can sit on any server with connectivity to DX NetOps Spectrum and DX Operational Intelligence APIs. This connector streams network alarms, inventory, topology, and change events from DX NetOps Spectrum to AIOps from Broadcom.
In the case that DX NetOps Spectrum is not your fault management solution, we’ve got you covered: DX RESTMon can stream data from many other network solutions such as SolarWinds, ThousandEyes, DataDog, etc.
Start by downloading the connector from DX NetOps Spectrum One Click server - Administration - Analytics configuration. The installation of the Spectrum Data Publisher is straightforward by launching the downloaded java application and following the on-screen instructions.
(Note this guide is specific to the connector from DX NetOps Spectrum 20.2.7+ integrated with DX Operational Intelligence SaaS or DX Operational Intelligence on-prem 20.2.2+.)
The configuration of the connector is driven by the file ConnectorConfig.xml under the “config” folder of the connector. You need the following information to configure the connector:
1. Spectrum Details -- Spectrum OneClick URL and port (if you need to enable SSL between SPD and OC, import the DX NetOps Spectrum certificate into SPD security folder).
2. DX Operational Intelligence APIs --There are 2 APIs to use when configuring the connector.
For SaaS: https://apmgw.dxi-na1.saas.broadcom.com.
For On-Prem: output of “oc get routes | grep apmservices-gateway” or “kubectl get ingress | grep apmservices'' depending on your platform type.
For SaaS: https://doi.dxi-na1.saas.broadcom.com
For On-Prem: output of “ kubectl get ingress | grep dxi-adminui”
To enable secure communications for these 2 APIs, import SSL certs from DX Operational Intelligence into SPD
3. Data Types: You can fine tune the data types to be sent to AIOps by setting below flags to true/false:<Ncm>true</Ncm>
<Tas>true</Tas>
4. TasConfiguration and AlarmConfiguration: You can configure how often topology and alarms will be synched to DX Operational Intelligence.
5. Tenant Id: Tenant Id associated with your tenant. For SaaS, you can retrieve it like explained here, for on-prem DX Operational Intelligence follow the same process but just replace axa.dxi-na1.saas.broadcom.com by your admin UI URL (e.g. adminui.<domain>)
6. Tokens: There are 2 tokens to configure.
This SaaS configuration below puts it all together:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ConnectorConfiguration>
<!-- DX Spectrum OneClick Server Configuration -->
<SpectrumConfiguration>
<OneClickServerUrl>http://<OCSERVER>:9090</OneClickServerUrl>
<ConfigFile>SpectrumConfig.xml</ConfigFile>
<WebappLaunchUrl>http://<OCSERVER>:9090/spectrum/webapp</WebappLaunchUrl>
</SpectrumConfiguration>
<Destinations>
<DestinationConfiguration>
<DestinationType>DOI</DestinationType>
<DestinationDefaultTenant><TENANTID></DestinationDefaultTenant>
<DestinationUrl>https://apmgw.dxi-na1.saas.broadcom.com</DestinationUrl>
...
<ConfigFile>DOIConfig.xml</ConfigFile>
<Alarms>true</Alarms>
<Ncm>true</Ncm>
<Tas>true</Tas>
<AlarmReconcileConfiguration>
<Enable>true</Enable>
<OIUrl>https://doi.dxi-na1.saas.broadcom.com</OIUrl>
<BearerToken>eyJ0a2...nRydWV9</BearerToken>
</AlarmReconcileConfiguration>
</DestinationConfiguration>
</Destinations> ...
Now you are ready to launch the Spectrum Data Publisher connector.
And you are done! You should have now network data flowing into DX Operational Intelligence ready to be processed and produce insights.
In case of problems take a look at the following Broadcom technical document.
So now that we have set up the integration, the next step is to consume SDN metrics or traditional network insights in our AIOps platform so we can benefit from the use cases described in the previous sections of this blog.
We have events, alarms, and topology (including Global Collection, Containers, and relationships) in our AIOps platform so you can benefit from the following use cases:
Figure:4. Business To Infrastructure Dashboard
We started by presenting the different use cases to get value out of AIOps on top of SDN events and topology. Then we jumped into the technical details of configuring the DX NetOps - DX Operational Intelligence connector. And, finally we have shown you how to leverage network insights in ourAIOps platform.
I hope this blog has given you a good overview of how AIOps from Broadcom and DX NetOps can complement and enrich each other, and it helps you to set up the Spectrum Data Publisher integration and explore the value yourself.
To learn more about AIOps, visit the Enterprise Software Academy's AIOps page.