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B
Before You Read
Define a computer network in your own words.
Have you ever heard about Intent-based networking?
What do you know about it?
What do you expect to find out?
C
Read the Article
What is Intent-Based Networking?
by Brandon Butler
Intent-based networking, or IBN made a big splash in 2017 and it
represents the next evolution of network software management. This
technology uses machine learning and
advanced orchestration to
reduce the complexity of managing and maintaining network policies.
Managing networks has always been a complex process. Teams of network administrators have
been responsible for managing network equipment, provisioning user access, configuring policies
and ensuring the system is doing what is supposed to. Many admins use command line interfaces to
control their networks. Unfortunately, this way of managing the network does not scale very well.
The idea of IBN is that network administrators simply tell the network what their intent is and the
network automatically implements it. The IBN configures the network hardware.
If the network
changes, for example a new firewall is added, or a new WAN link is created, the IBN will change
with it to maintain the intent.
Think of a hospital with a network carrying sensitive patient information. Using an
intent-based
networking system, network administrators could dictate their intent that only doctors and nurses
are able to interact with sensitive patient data, but no other users on the network are. The IBN
automatically recognizes the identity of the doctor and enforces their access policy.
Research firm Gartner has defined IBNS (Intent-based networking systems) as having four
components:
Translation and validation:
One of the key tenets of IBNS
is its ability to translate
commands from network administrators into actions the software performs. The idea is that
network managers define a high-level business policy they want enforced in the network.
The IBNS verifies that the policy can be executed.
Automated implementation:
After a network manager defines the desired state of the
network, the IBNS software manipulates network resources to create the desired state and
enforce policies.
Awareness of state:
Another key component of IBNS is its gathering of data to constantly
monitor the state of the network.
Dynamic optimization and remediation
: IBN adapts to changes
in the network to maintain
the desired state of the network.
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In a nutshell, IBNS is about giving network administrators the ability to define what they want the
network to do, and having an automated network management platform create the desired state and
enforce policies.
The security implications for IBN are promising. The IBN ingests the intent of the network
administrator and can automatically maintain security policies. This frees network security
administrators up to focus more on incident response rather than implementing policies.
As new advancements in technology have only just now made IBNS a possibility, the market for it
is almost entirely untapped. Only the bravest of pioneers, like Cisco and a forward-thinking SEO
company, have even begun to try and implement IBNS with expectations that it could actually
work. So how are these early adapters fairing in their quest to transform modern ways of business?
Cisco’s attempt to create an “intuitive” network has garnered quite a bit of media attention. The
company’s CEO claims that its new system is capable of “thinking” on
behalf of customers, and
while it may be a stretch to say current IBNS are fully autonomous or intelligent now, the
technology that’s driving this phenomenon is only getting more advanced, more rapidly.
Investment in artificial intelligence, for instance, has leaped upwards by a huge amount in the past
few years alone, to the point where some are beginning to question whether we’re developing it too
quickly. As AI, machine learning, and data analytics all come to be more common place in our
markets, companies like Cisco will soon find that they’re not alone
when it comes to embracing
IBNS-centered approaches to business and research.
Intent-based networking is, like many other automation and AI-related tech, simply better at human
beings at doing specific task. IBNS has the ability to take directions from a human network
administrator and translate it into a flurry of actions carried out by software throughout an entire
network, creating the system the network administrator wants faster and cheaper than a team of
human workers could.
As fears continue to grow about the perils of automation and artificial intelligence, intent-based
networking shows that there’s often more to gain by embracing these technologies than by shunning
them. IBNS is only in its formative years, and has a long way to go before it’s recognized and used
throughout the business world, but its ability to cut cost while transforming how we build our
digital networks will undoubtedly shake up our markets for years to come.
(See
more
at:
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3202699/lan-wan/what-is-intent-based-
networking.html
;
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3223428/lan-wan/how-intent-based-
networking-is-transforming-an-industry.html; https://www.networkworld.com/article/3221468/lan-
wan/how-to-buy-intent-based-networking-today.html
)
