{"id":2932,"date":"2018-03-26T10:01:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T14:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chrisgrundemann.com\/?p=2932"},"modified":"2021-07-08T11:12:48","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T15:12:48","slug":"extreme-automation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrisgrundemann.com\/index.php\/2018\/extreme-automation\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Automation with StackStorm and The New Extreme"},"content":{"rendered":"

When your name is an adjective, you’re just asking to be the brunt of many punishing puns. Based on the chatter during the second day of NFD17<\/a>, that is certainly true for Extreme Networks. In fact, it’s actually hard to avoid. So let’s just dive right in to extreme automation, with Extreme Networks. I hope you find it extremely interesting, extremely informative, and… Well, that’s probably enough. For now.<\/p>\n

Extreme Acquisitions<\/h2>\n

Let’s take a quick diversion before we get into the nuts and bolts of Extreme automation. Even for those of you who don’t follow industry news, the pedigree of “the new Extreme” and their automation tools is worth understanding a bit.<\/p>\n

It all starts in the mid 90s, around 1994-1996. That is when Foundry Networks, Brocade, Extreme Networks, and several other networking or networking adjacent companies were founded (like Avaya, and Bay Networks, etc.). Eventually, Brocade bought Foundry (in 2008), and then Extreme bought the SRA (Switching, Routing, and Analytics) business line from Brocade (in 2017). So you can think of Extreme Network’s new Data Center business as a continuation of the work started at Foundry and fostered at Brocade. Some of the team members have even made it through both acquisitions and remain dedicated to a product line that’s been developing for decades.<\/p>\n

In fact, according to Wikipedia<\/a>, “through a series of historical and contemporary merger and acquisition activity, Extreme Network claims an industry lineage that includes, at a minimum, the networking-focussed elements of the following companies: Digital, Chantry, Siemens, Cabletron, Enterasys, AirDefense, Symbol, Motorola, Zebra, Wellfleet, SynOptics, Bay Networks, Nortel Networks, Avaya, Vistapointe, StackStorm, Foundry Networks, [and] Brocade.” That’s certainly an extreme set of companies to be rolled up under one (purple) umbrella: The New Extreme.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Extreme Automation<\/h2>\n

When we’re talking about automation, one of those acquisitions stands out: StackStorm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

StackStorm launched in 2013, came out of stealth mode in 2014, released version 1.0 in 2015 (open source, no less), picked up clients like MasterCard, Netflix, SendGrid, and Target, and then sold to Brocade in 2016. What a ride that must have been!<\/p>\n

Once acquired, Brocade SRA went to work adding network automation to the existing data center operations automation software, in order to<\/a> “bring DevOps style scalable open source automation to Brocade\u2019s networking solutions.” They left StackStorm completely open source, and built WorkFlow Composer on top, to add ‘enterprise-grade’ features like security, support, and even a cool graphical interface (workflow designer).<\/p>\n

Extreme Automation, powered by StackStorm, built by Brocade.<\/p>\n

Everyday Automation<\/h2>\n

Two of the key themes that everyone wanted to talk about at NFD17 were automation\/orchestration\/intent and visibility\/analytics\/telemetry. That was no surprise. A bit more interesting, and refreshing, was the focus on automation beyond “day 0” infrastructure provisioning and “day 1” service provisioning to “day 2” operations as well. A focus on Everyday Automation<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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NetOps spend most of their time monitoring, troubleshooting, and remediating; network automation needs to address that. #NFD17<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/9PDs7QuG2G<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Chris Grundemann (@ChrisGrundemann) January 25, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n