Juniper Networks released a bevy of updates to its recently acquired intent-based network platform today with the launch of Apstra 4.0.

The release introduces more flexible templates, which allow tighter integrations with the enterprise-focused version of Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC) network operating system (NOS) as well as VMware’s NSX-T 3.0 networking platform. Additionally, Juniper launched “drop-in” networking packages, which bundle Juniper's appliances with Apstra's management software.

The networking giant acquired Apstra in December in a bid to drive deeper automation into Juniper’s Junos-based data center networking platform.

“Organizations are looking for new ways to enhance the experience of users and operators in the data center,” said Mike Bushong, VP data center at Juniper, in a statement. “Our Apstra software provides the perfect foundation by delivering closed-loop automation, analytics and assurance for intent-based networking across vendors.”

According to Mansour Karam, Apstra’s founder and VP of product at Juniper, one of the biggest improvements in Apstra 4.0 is the introduction of connectivity templates. These templates allow customers to tailor their network configurations to meet specific goals without having to manually push configuration scripts.

“This is something that our customers have been waiting for, because they didn't want to make that compromise in terms of rigidity versus simplicity,” Karam said.

He explained that in the past, Apstra would have to make certain assumptions about how a customer wanted to implement a change, such as guessing whether to use the border gateway protocol or open shortest path first protocol (OSFP), when provisioning a high availability network.

With templates, “we were able to introduce a lot more flexibility while keeping the turnkey advantage,” Karam said. “It’s an order of magnitude improvement in flexibility, while we're keeping this simple operational model.”

These templates take also take advantage of device and interface tagging within Apstra. Karam explained that these tags allow customers to more accurately locate, report, and automate workloads or appliances on their network.

Despite Apstra’s acquisition by Juniper, Karam claims the platform will retain multi-vendor support. This commitment is evidenced by deeper support for VMware's NSX-T network virtualization platform.

“A question that is often asked is, ‘are you guys going to continue being multi-vendor?’ And the answer is absolutely yes. Multi-vendor is a key requirement from customers for a management solution,” he said.

He adds that with the introduction of connectivity templates, Apstra is now able to eliminate key pain points for NSX-T customers struggling to correlate their overlay and underlay networks.

“You could have as simple as an [maximum transmission unit] mismatch and … and NSX-T wouldn’t work the way it should,” he said. “What we do is we actually use connectivity templates to connect to an NSX-T server automatically, and then, the NSX-T server and the Apstra server exchange information, and then they ensure that everything is set up properly.”

If something is out of place, Juniper claims the integration will flag the errors and attempt to remediate the issue automatically.

Version 4.0 also extends support for templates to SONiC, which Microsoft developed for hyperscale networking before it open sourced SONiC in 2017. Juniper claims this integration will make it easier for customers to deploy networks built using the switch operating system.

According to Karam, supporting SONiC not only demonstrates Juniper and Apstra’s continued commitment to multi-vendor integrations, but the also company’s support for open networking.

While Apstra will continue to support vendors that aren’t Juniper, that doesn’t mean its new owner isn’t taking advantage. Alongside the improvements made to Apstra 4.0, Juniper has introduced networking bundles, which it calls “building blocks.”

These bundles are made up of all the necessary Juniper routing and switching appliances required to deploy common network topologies. The deployment and provisioning of these appliances is then managed by Apstra.

“It allows you to essentially install a network, and get it all working within 30 minutes,” Karam said. “Apstra will tell you which port connects to which port.”