Toward Automated End-to-End Workflow Deployment In Dynamic Large-Scale Data Center Network With Multi-Vendor Devices

Complex data center network providers have long been characterized by their closed and proprietary nature. A programmatic approach allows for the dynamic management of network entities that can simplify and streamline the deployment, configuration, and management processes while building the foundational tools towards an open standards Software Defined Networking (SDN). The introduction of a new automated model into the data center network world immensely enhances programmability. As increasingly complicated multivendor networks emerge, the need for a new automation model becomes even more critical. A dynamic workflow provides an avenue for the engineering teams to automate the multi-vendor device onboarding process, without having to rely on manual configuration and provisioning, thus reducing the time and effort for the heterogeneous network entities. This paper expands this vision, describing some of the motivating use cases in more detail, delineating our proposed architecture and implementation, chronicling our progress to date, and outlining future plans.