Arista Automation

Automation:

Automating the data center enables customers to dynamically provision computing resources in the most efficient manner while also meeting business needs by maintaining service level agreements (SLAs). Arista EOS automates complex IT workflows and simplifies network operations while reducing or even eliminating downtime. Arista EOS rich automation capabilities not only reduce the human error element in network operations but also enable IT operators to make the network work the way they want.

Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)

Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) and Zero Touch Replacement (ZTR) uses standards-based (e.g. DHCP, T/FTP, HTTP) to automate rapid provisioning of the network.

Automatic provisioning at power-on when new or replacement switch connected
Standards based, no need to implement proprietary platforms
Advanced scripting capabilities to customize configurations to your needs
Maintain compliance and network integrity
Fully automate network and server provisioning

Advanced Event Management (AEM)

Advanced Event Management (AEM) is purpose-built to enhance system up-time through programmatic reaction to network changes and to minimize system outages by simplifying complex troubleshooting tasks.

Increased visibility of critical events through event-driven controls
Take local automated action based on real-time network conditions for improved network performance
Automate routine tasks

Smart System Upgrade (SSU)

Smart System Upgrade is a network application designed to reduce maintenance windows for cloud network infrastructure while accelerating deployment of new features and network changes. SSU provides a fully customizable suite of features that tightly couples data center infrastructure partners. SSU includes the following features:

Intelligent insertion and removal of network elements in the network topology
Open and programmatic integration to all application and infrastructure components via the EOS extensible APIs (eAPI) and Advanced Event Management (AEM)
Integration with data center infrastructure partners such as Microsoft, F5 and Palo Alto Networks for customer monitoring, failover, and load balancing

Arista extensible APIs (eAPIs)

The foundation that enables EOS to effortlessly carry out workflow automation is eAPI. Providing a pragmatic interface to EOS, eAPI allows network engineering and operations teams to build robust automation scripts.

Full access with the same commands and structures as the command line interface (CLI)
Flexibility in choice of scripting tools as eAPIs return data in JSON format

CloudVision™ - Topology Agnostic Management

Arista CloudVision™ is a framework for creating a topology agnostic single-point of administration and management for thousands of devices based on open-source and open-standards. Open source, standards based multi-switch XMPP message-bus

Topology agnostic messaging and management, scales to thousands of devices
- Works In-band and out-of-band
- Works across L2, L3 and tunneled networks
- Works across N-Tiered Networks
- Supports CLI commands, and is extensible to XML and Binary transfer in the future
Authenticated, encrypted and fully logged

Automation Integration with Partners

Arista EOS is integrated with all of the major automation frameworks available today. Integration with tools like Puppet, Chef and Ansible enhance the native capabilities of EOS that add additional workflow intelligence to system upgrades. Networking engineering and operations teams can focus on developing the right operational plan as opposed to adapting to a specific toolset.

The programmability of EOS enables automation to extend beyond Arista devices. By taking advantage of the programmability across Arista’s partner ecosystem, Smart System Upgrade (SSU) can extend automation and intelligence of the upgrade process up the stack to include systems and applications.

AEM:

Arista EOS and eAPI provide automation with partners both for enhancing native capabilities with tools like Puppet, Chef and Ansible and extending workflow up the stack to include such devices as firewalls, load balancers and compute infrastructures.

Advanced Event Management (AEM), a sub-system of Arista EOS, the world's most advanced network operating system, is a powerful and flexible tool to automate tasks and customize the behavior of EOS and the operation of the overall data center switching infrastructure.

Featured Video: AEM Overview

Event-driven controls bring simplicity to network operations: Exporting massive amounts of data from the switch to a server just to find some small subset of information is inefficient and unnecessarily complex. Why not let the individual network elements do the work of parsing and alerting based on configurable events. By reducing the 'noise' operations staff increase their visibility to critical events.
AEM allows operators to fully utilize the intelligence within EOS to respond to real-time events, automate routine tasks, and take local automated action based on real-time network conditions for improved network performance.
According to Gartner Group 80% of mission-critical systems outages through 2015 will be caused by people and process issues: AEM is purpose-built to enhance system up-time and enable distributed systems automation to simplify complex tasks, react programmatically to network changes, and to simplify complex troubleshooting tasks—thus minimizing systems outages.

ZTP - Zero Touch Provisioning - Network Automation for Cloud Data Centers:

As simple as rack, connect and power-on
Standards based, no need to implement proprietary platforms
Advanced scripting capabilities
Maintain compliance and network integrity
Fully automate network and server provisioning
ZTP Applications

Using standards based protocols (e.g. DHCP, T/FTP, HTTP) the network can be rapidly provisioned. Advanced scripting capabilities allow the administrator to tailor boot configurations based on a variety of parameters, meeting the needs of even the most complex data center deployments. Combined with other Arista features, like VMTracer's adaptive VLAN configuration, data center managers can fully automate the bring-up of network elements and virtual servers. Leverage Arista's unique 'hands-off' provisioning to enable the Cloud Data Center.

Zero Touch Provisioning Overview

Applications

Fully automated deployment of a Virtualized Data Center: Arista switches deployed with ZTP, are downloaded with VMTracer configuration parameters. As VMware vSphere servers boot and instantiate virtual machines, VMTracer automatically configures the VLANS for the VMs. No manual configurations are necessary and the data center has autobooted and is ready for use.
Using templates with Puppet/Cobbler to configure switches in an HPC cluster: Extending the model of cluster server provisioning, the HPC manager uses templates to quickly deploy additional racks of servers in the HPC cluster. Along with the server templates, the manager adds a template for the Top of Rack (ToR) switches as well. Now as racks of servers are added to the cluster, both network and server platforms are configured and integrated into the existing cluster.
Using scripting to install Linux extensions to EOS: A service provider writes a shell script that is downloaded to a switch with ZTP at boot time. The shell script downloads an OpenVPN RPM, installs and configures it. Its last function is to send a message to the NOC with its logs and configuration information. After the switch reboots, managers can securely access the switch from the remote NOC for provisioning.

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