Nautobot Cloud – Your Gateway to Network Automation


Network to Code recently hosted a webinar on the future of network automation to demonstrate how you can elevate your network management experience with the leading SaaS network automation platform, Nautobot Cloud.

If your organization is ready to begin or improve your network automation journey with Nautobot, there are two deployment options to choose from: self-managed solutions (on-premises or within your established cloud assets) or cloud SaaS. Self-managed solutions refer to an approach where an organization’s IT infrastructure (whether physical or cloud-based) and resources are responsible for the deployment, operation, and maintenance of the enterprise software.

Embracing the future of network automation has never been easier since the introduction of Nautobot Cloud. Nautobot Cloud enables engineering teams to quickly operationalize a Network Source of Truth (NSoT) and network automation platform in a single open source SaaS platform.

Before we dive into the differences between a self-managed solution and Nautobot Cloud, it’s important to understand Nautobot and its core functionality.

What is Nautobot?

Nautobot is the most widely deployed open source Network SoT and network automation platform used by large enterprises today, offering a data-driven approach to network automation. It offers organizations superior flexibility, extensibility, and control while catering to any network design.

One of Nautobot’s greatest strengths is that data doesn’t have to reside within Nautobot; Nautobot offers a neutral model allowing the data to stay where it is most easily stored and accessed, but also ensuring all necessary data is identified and available. Nautobot enables bi-directional data flows so data can be enriched from each of the various sources, and combined as necessary to fulfill the data needs of the network automation tasks. With Nautobot as your NSoT, data about the network can be stored and exposed in a multitude of ways to support operations, including Rest APIs, JobHooks, GraphQL, Git Integration, and Webhooks. With Nautobot, even disparate data sources are unified, and compliance is more easily achieved, mitigating errors and security vulnerabilities.

Additionally, Nautobot maintains an intended network state that can be confidently documented, understood, and used as a baseline to compare current network behaviors against, empowering a more modern and data-driven NetDevOps approach to network configuration and management.

Exploring the Pros and Cons of Network Automation Deployment Options

There are several key pros and cons between a self-managed solution and a Cloud SaaS approach.

Deploying Nautobot through a self-managed approach is a more traditional method that many organizations are familiar with. However, these solutions come with their own challenges.

To start, a self-managed solution often requires major upfront costs for hardware (or cloud capacity), software, and setup, along with an ongoing need to pay for costly maintenance to maintain functionality and avoid obsolescence. Additionally this solution takes away time and effort that could otherwise be directed toward achieving business objectives, as team members must invest labor and hours towards learning to install, maintain, and use it.

On the other hand, Nautobot Cloud offers teams significant benefits when it comes to simplifying the adoption of a data-driven network automation platform.

First, while traditional self-managed solutions are notorious for lengthy installation times, Nautobot Cloud delivers an accelerated installation time. With Nautobot Cloud, installation is done in minutes, with a single click, saving your team countless hours and labor during the setup phase.

Nautobot Cloud is also an invaluable tool for optimizing your team. Thanks to the management of the infrastructure and Nautobot in the cloud, clients can access as many Nautobot instances as they need without investing time or training in any infrastructure development and maintenance.

Self-managed solutions also require multiple departments across the organization to function together, such as network automation teams, security teams, infrastructure teams, PMO teams, and network teams. With a cloud-based approach, a few dedicated team members handle NSoT population, configuration management, data access, automation jobs, and custom applications, leaving the rest of the organization to focus on their specialized roles and objectives.

Another major benefit of Nautobot Cloud is its comprehensive cloud native architecture features. With Nautobot Cloud, users gain access to:

  • Autoscaling of resources – easily scale and dynamically change your network maintenance, configuration, and security measures based on fluctuating traffic, data, or other needs
  • Secure multi-tenancy – segregate different lines of business, based on your specific requirements
  • Dedicated clusters – Nautobot Cloud uses a multi-cluster design, relieving worries about impact from parallel environment, unlike a traditional On-Prem solution
  • Highly Available – crucial for mission-critical applications, where system outages can have significant consequences.

By providing an easy-to-use interface to deploy scalable network automation, Nautobot Cloud enables teams to focus on boosting performance—not spending unnecessary time, effort, and budget on deployment complexities.

Nautobot Platform and Service Features

Now that we’ve discussed the benefits of choosing Cloud SaaS over an On-Prem solution for your network automation needs, let’s explore the key Nautobot features in a bit more detail.

Fast and easy installation and management

With Nautobot Cloud, cloud resources are created in minutes with a single click. Resource upgrades, cloning, and snapshots are also performed in one click. For organizations strapped on time and resources, Nautobot Cloud makes network automation and management faster, simpler, and more efficient.

Accelerated network automation

Nautobot is the key to accelerating your network automation adoption, thanks to its apps that solve common use cases. Each app is available in the marketplace and easily deployable via a 1-button integration model so you can quickly solve your most pressing challenges. Nautobot can also integrate with custom-made apps as needed.

Enterprise Grade Data Insights

Nautobot’s rich modern dashboard provides unique insights into your automation environment, including real-time dashboards that showcase data insights and trends in your network data and executed workflows.

Cloud Services Console

Another service feature of Nautobot Cloud is the ability for team members to access, use, and manage all cloud services through the web-based console. Cloud services include:

  • Create, clone, and upgrade Nautobot instances
  • Create and manage AWX deployments
  • Install Apps to Nautobot Instances
  • View dashboards

Full Automation Ecosystem

Nautobot Cloud is your full automation ecosystem, acting as a Network Source of Truth and your Network Automation platform. In addition to seamlessly working with Nautobot, Nautobot Cloud also enables efficient deployment and management of Ansible AWX. This means team members can truly install, manage, and maintain one of the most common network automation stacks, directly from Nautobot Cloud.

Learn More about Nautobot Cloud

Choosing between a self-managed solution and a cloud operational model is no longer a difficult choice with Nautobot Cloud. Nautobot Cloud is turbocharging the efficiency, productivity, and responsiveness of network teams across the globe.


Conclusion

Led by data-driven network automation, Nautobot Cloud is enabling engineering teams to quickly operationalize its Network Source of Truth and network automation platform in a single open source SaaS platform.

Ready to learn how Nabutobot Cloud can help streamline and improve your network automation journey?

Watch the full webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8YhkV4oE1w

-Chris M.


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