Despite what IT hardware and software companies claim, modern enterprise networks aren't getting any easier to stand up and maintain. Distributed workforces, cloud migration, and the proliferation of IoT devices have stretched conventional network architectures tremendously.
Automation of SD-WAN operations and the addition of secure access service edge (Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)) for additional security has emerged as a go-to solution, converging network and security functions into a unified, cloud-delivered architecture. A small team normally can handle this optimally. However, many organizations are required to adopt a multivendor SASE approach, seeking best-of-breed solutions for specific needs, depending upon clients and their workloads. This invariably spells complexity for NetOps teams tasked with managing and optimizing these disparate parts into one system.
Thus, automation – especially with artificial intelligence (AI) assistance – becomes very important for taming this complexity and enabling next-generation network operations. No team of humans can monitor these things 24/7. This article explores how to automate multivendor SASE deployments for next-gen NetOps, focusing on key strategies and considerations.
Challenges of multi-vendor SASE management
While multivendor SASE is often being deployed, Gartner expects a shift toward single-vendor SASE adoption during the next few years due to benefits that include streamlined management and integration.
While a multivendor SASE approach offers flexibility and choice, it presents significant management challenges. NetOps teams often struggle with:
- Siloed management consoles: Each vendor typically provides its own management interface, leading to a fragmented view of the network. This makes troubleshooting, performance monitoring, and policy management cumbersome and time-consuming.
- Inconsistent APIs and data models: Integrating different SASE components requires navigating varying APIs and data formats, hindering automation efforts. Standardizing data exchange becomes a major hurdle.
- Lack of end-to-end visibility: Gaining a holistic understanding of network performance and security posture across multiple vendors is difficult. This lack of visibility complicates root cause analysis and proactive issue resolution.
- Increased operational overhead: Managing multiple vendors requires specialized expertise and increases operational complexity, potentially impacting agility and responsiveness.
Automation is essential for addressing these challenges and unearthing the true potential of multivendor SASE. It enables NetOps teams to centralize management by using one or more automated orchestration platforms to integrate with multiple SASE vendors, thus providing a single console for managing the entire network.
Automated workflows can perform routine tasks such as configuration changes, policy updates, and security patching, freeing up NetOps teams to focus on unexpected blockages or strategic initiatives. In turn, this improves visibility for monitoring; automated monitoring tools can collect and correlate data from different SASE components, providing end-to-end visibility into network performance and security. This enables proactive identification and resolution of issues.
How this improves security posture
Automated security policy enforcement and threat detection using SASE reduces the risk of breaches by speeding up incident identification and subsequent response times. Automated incident response workflows can often identify and remediate security incidents before the admin team sees them, minimizing their impact on the business.
Key strategies for automating multivendor SASE
Successfully automating multivendor SASE requires a strategic approach. Some suggested steps:
- Standardize APIs and data models: Using industry standards and open APIs are crucial for seamless integration between different SASE components. Vendors that adhere to standards such as RESTful APIs and utilize common data formats such as JSON or YAML facilitate automation.
- Use a trusted orchestration platform: This acts as the central control point for managing the multivendor SASE environment. It should be capable of integrating with a wide array of vendor APIs, automating workflows, and providing a unified 360-degree view of the network.
- Your infrastructure must be programmable: SASE components should be programmable, allowing for automated configuration and management. This requires vendors to provide well-documented APIs and support infrastructure-as-code (IAC) principles.
AI and machine learning (ML) are playing an increasingly important role in automation. Integrating AI and ML capabilities can further enhance automation by analyzing network data to identify anomalies, predict potential issues, and optimize network performance.
Importantly, integrating SASE automation with DevSecOps tools and pipelines enables security to be embedded throughout the software development lifecycle. This enables automated security testing and policy enforcement, reducing the risk of vulnerabilities.
Considerations for first-time implementation
Teams should start small and then iterate. Begin with automating specific use cases and gradually expand the scope of automation. This enables learning and refinement of the automation processes.
Managers should focus on key metrics by identifying the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are most important to the business and prioritizing the automation and management of these metrics.
Successful automation requires collaboration between NetOps, security, and development teams. Sometimes these relationships are the hardest communication problems to solve. Managers should provide adequate training and time to ensure teams are comfortable with each other and the new tools and processes.
Finally, when selecting SASE vendors, prioritize those that offer robust APIs, that support open standards, and that have a strong commitment to automation.
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