Cisco Live 2019: New Best Practices for Hybrid and Multicloud Network Strategies
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The document outlines best practices for implementing hybrid and multicloud network strategies, emphasizing the importance of effective DNS, DHCP, and IPAM management to ensure network control, visibility, and automation. It advises on overcoming common pitfalls, engaging stakeholders, and leveraging cloud-native features for optimal network performance and flexibility. Additionally, it discusses migration considerations and the role of APIs in enhancing operational efficiency and collaboration among network teams.
Cisco Live 2019: New Best Practices for Hybrid and Multicloud Network Strategies
- 1. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. New Best Practices for Future-ready Hybrid & Multicloud Network Strategies
- 2. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. About us Men & Mice provides API-driven DNS, DHCP and IPAM software solutions to global enterprise, education and government organizations for effective management, visibility, control, automation and security of complex, hybrid IP infrastructure. Network Managers in some of the world’s largest organizations rely on Men & Mice to increase network portability and adapt to changing network needs.
- 3. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. About me Paul Terrill Director, Sales Operations, North America +10 years experience assisting enterprise and other large scale organizations transition global networks to scale and increase resilience. Get in touch: paul.terrill@menandmice.com
- 4. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. What we’ll cover • Pitfalls such as: • Loss of control • Compatibility hurdles • Lost time and efficiencies • Low visibility • New best practices: • Unifying management and visibility with overlays • Adding security and control • Automating and workflows • Leverage service-native features (on-premise and cloud) • Hybrid deployment scenarios and migration Virtual appliances in cloud vs. using cloud-native services
- 5. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. Engage DevOps, executive stakeholders • Be the change agent not the reluctant network team • Show advantages and risks for service adoptions • Give transparent, unified reporting • Rip and replace or, steady progress? • Leverage everything while adapting the network • Proactively prepare for change • Direct integration • What Orchestration tools and platforms (via plug-ins or adapters) are ideal for Datacenter and private cloud automation? • Workflows and reporting intelligence • What’s making network (and business services) efficient? What’s underperforming, causing hurdles? DevOps + Network Team advantage
- 6. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. Migration Questions to consider: • What is being migrated? • Core network infrastructure services (DNS and DHCP)? Do the new servers/solutions come with the same capabilities? • Do you have automation? • Using current platform API? How will this impact change? • Same functionality? • Does your new platform have it? Audit what you’re gaining and losing? • Architectural differences? • Do DHCP servers and DNS servers integrate between solutions? Is that further complicated with cloud integrations? • Is OS on the devices/services? • Can it ensure access to corporate if internet connection goes down?
- 7. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. DHCP Cisco IOS DHCP • Uses split-scopes • Client updates DNS on its own • Simple configuration and option management • IOS is on the router, lending autonomy should internet go down Platform B • Uses failover • Takes care of the DNS registration • Advanced, elaborate options you’ll never use • IOS lives elsewhere, dependent on connectivity Both DHCP solutions give out leases to clients but administration, configuration and setup can be quite different:
- 8. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. Virtual Appliances 3 reasons Network Managers put DNS servers/services in the cloud: Authoritative for Internet-facing zones Why: Not on virtual infrastructure Issue: Time building or strategizing security, scalability and availability Best: Use services like Amazon Route 53, Akamai or other services to host external zones. Authoritative for internal zones (available to hosts in the cloud) Why: Dev servers point to appliance Issue: Redundancy requires more than one, and must be copied across multiple VPCs and accounts Best: Host zone as private zone in Amazon Route 53, or use the Route 53 resolver. Internet resolution to hosts in the cloud Why: Provide resolution by putting VA in VPC or account Issue: Rigid, old school, costly and negates advantages of cloud services Best: Use cloud-native features.
- 9. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. Homegrown Can you productize your homegrown solution or sell it? No? Don’t. • Ownership • Who owns? Are they retiring? Controls sophisticated enough? • Functionality • Maintenance and version update resilience • New versions of software present new incompatibilities • Accommodate new innovations? • New functionality comes to market (like IPv6) • Barrier to network transformation? • Prickly and inflexible means bigger plan, more time for deployment • Reluctance to change because the task and costs are too large • stifles innovation, slows teams with mundane tasks, impacts business efficiencies
- 10. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. APIs Don’t fear the API • APIs work best when they are well strategized (not all APIs are created equal) • Automate the things that bog teams down • Liberate teams to focus on business innovation and growth • Compatibility shortens resolution and increases overall efficiency AI is not ready for primetime!
- 11. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. APIs Automate the things that bog teams down • Types of APIs: – REST (fast performance, reliability and scalability) – SOAP/XML (more rigid in execution) – JSON-RPC (stuck in a different time) Things to look out for: • Is the API fast or will you just resort to SQL database statements? • Can you define your own workflows with point & click? • Does it include all features/functions of Product Interface? • Go through all the same channels as Interface Functions? • Does it log all API-induced changes?
- 12. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. Why Overlays? High Availability • Multiple regions/DCs, cloud VNETs/VPCs to ensure transparent, always-on APIs and Workflows (REST APIs) • Retain / add granular Access Controls to increase security • Cuts implementation and task time from months to days and minutes • Leverages Cloud 24/7 monitoring for DDI When hell breaks loose • Overlay is not authoritative for core network services • Network will continue to operate even if DDI tool goes down • When back online, an overlay will synchronize again • Redundancy addresses and mitigates significant risk management concerns Easier and quicker to plan, organize, optimize and delegate hybrid & multicloud strategies
- 13. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. Compatibility Cisco IOS ISC DHCP ISC Kea Microsoft DHCP BIND Microsoft DNS PowerDNS Unbound Plug-in Network App & subnet data VMWare vRealize Orchestrator & Automation Men & Mice included as a Solution Provider in Gartner's March 2019 research report “Solution Comparison for Enterprise DNS, DHCP and IP Address Management (DDI) Solutions.”
- 14. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. “It's improved the way that our 'customers' view us because now we have a more stable environment. We have less errors, and we are quicker to solve, quicker to respond. People bring up their concerns, their problems and we just fix it on the spot.” Improving service levels and consolidate network resources to reduce costs • Critical network changes that used to take 30 minutes, now take 1-3 minutes. • Low-cost data in the cloud: very simple and fast to migrate data to the most efficient storage platform, as and when needed. • Co-hosting networks on a single management platform and co-housing equipment, which allows for better and more efficient use of funds. Icelandic Meteorological Office
- 15. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. Advantages for Umbrella customers Configure all internal DNS servers (resolvers) in one go • Domain Controllers • Dozens to as many as hundreds • Visibility to correct servers not properly configured Manage, synchronize, increase flexibility and security of entire IP infrastructure Bonus: • Our community of large network customers means big data pool: • ID operational trends across various implementations • Quickly deploy solutions to customers with similar pain points
- 16. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. Pitfalls to avoid Using solutions that negate innovation by telling you to ”buy more boxes” or “put more VAs in the cloud.” Solutions with slow APIs slow down your network, team and increase costs Wasting valuable talent on mundane task due to solutions that don’t enable proper automation Isolating your network into your on-premise, homegrown or cloud provider kills visibility and increases misconfigurations and security vulnerabilities.
- 17. Copyright © 2019 Men and Mice ehf. All rights reserved. Increase collaboration between DevOps, Network and Executive teams to ensure company vision comes to life Leverage service-native features and uses services that are highly compatible and synchronize Improve control granularity and customization • Ensure complete, unified visibility throughout and after migration Ditch the homegrown IPAM Decide to be innovative, a hybrid /multicloud networked organization Best practices
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